One year after the first agreement, Eni and NextChem, the Maire Tecnimont subsidiary for green chemistry, strengthen their partnership. To the engineering projects in progress for the construction of a "Waste to Hydrogen" plant, aimed at the production of hydrogen at the Eni biorefinery in Venice, in Porto Marghera, and to the "Waste to Methanol" project for the production of methanol in the Eni refinery in Livorno, today a further piece is added to Taranto.
In the areas of the Ionian refinery, the aim is to verify the feasibility of a plant for the production of synthetic gas from plasmix and CSS, through a chemical recycling process. The gas will then be refined in two independent flows: hydrogen, which could be destined for the Eni refinery to feed the hydrodesulphurization processes of fuels, and a gas rich in carbon monoxide that could be used in the steel plant, both in blast furnace processes and in new DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) technologies. This would also make an important contribution to the decarbonisation of the steel industry.
NextChem is finalizing the aspects related to the industrial application of the initiative. A joint working group between the two companies will verify the technical, economic and feasibility of the plant flows. The involvement of local institutions will also be significant.
The agreement signed today is part of the long-term strategy that will lead Eni to establish itself as a leader in the production and marketing of decarbonised products. The company is in fact following an unprecedented strategic plan in the industry which by 2050 will allow it to cut 80% of its absolute carbon emissions. Eni will increasingly produce green energy by developing renewables, will produce gas, LNG and hydrogen from gas and raw materials of bio origin, cleaned of CO2 thanks to sequestration and storage projects, will generate bio fuels in its biorefineries, as well as bio fuels, methanol and hydrogen from waste and scraps, and chemistry from renewables and secondary raw materials. In particular, NextChem's technological solution would allow an effective significant reduction of CO2 emissions from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective compared to the current treatment of CSS and plasmix by means of waste-to-energy, with any positive consequence from an environmental point of view, according to the circular economy principles.
The one developed by NextChem is one of the most relevant technological innovations of recent years in the field of circular economy and energy transition and is applicable to the conversion processes of brownfield sites of traditional and heavy industry. The chemicals of "circular" origin obtained by this technology reduce the need for extraction of fossil-based resources and contribute to the decarbonisation of important segments of the industry, providing low carbon fuels to the transport sector, which has a significant impact on global emissions. of CO2. This is one of the guidelines of the NextChem roadmap for the energy transition, which has over 30 innovative initiatives in its portfolio, with proprietary technologies, international licenses and technological integration and EPC contracts.