Eni, Euglena, Petronas Start Building Malaysia Biorefinery

Eni SpA, Euglena Co Ltd and Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) have held a groundbreaking ceremony for a biorefinery with a processing capacity of 650,000 metric tons per annum in Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia.

Targeting a 2028 start of operations, the facility is expected to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) and bio-naphtha, according to a joint statement.

Feedstocks will include wastes such as used vegetable oils and animal fats, as well as residues from processed vegetable oils.

“Leveraging the synergy and strength of our partnership, the new biorefinery is one of Petronas’ key initiatives to deliver on our energy transition strategy through a holistic bio-based value chain and an expanded suite of cleaner energy solutions”, said Petronas executive vice president and chief executive for downstream Sazali Hamzah. “This is in lockstep with Petronas’ larger aspiration to become an integrated energy leader in the next decade, serving the world’s energy needs, safely, reliably and sustainably”.

Euglena founder and president Mitsuru Izumo said, “This project represents a global endeavor and a powerful step toward decarbonization and a more sustainable future, through enhanced clean energy supply capacity, particularly across the ASEAN region and beyond”.

“In our continued efforts to expand decarbonization solutions in response to climate change, we will continue to invest in research and development of microalgae, and advance our efforts toward the commercialization of algal biofuel”, Izumo added.

Stefano Ballista , chief executive of Eni biofuels arm Enilive, said, “With Enilive’s biorefineries that are already operational in Italy and in the United States of America, and with new plants under construction in Italy and South Korea, the new biorefinery in Pengerang is a further and relevant step forward towards the achievement of a production capacity over five million tons per year and over two million tons of SAF by 2030, supporting the growing need for more sustainable mobility”.

Italy’s state-backed energy major Eni has set goals to grow its biorefining capacity to over three MMtpa by 2028 and more than five MMtpa by 2030, with the potential to produce up to two MMtpa of SAF by 2030.

Eni’s current biofuels production come from two Italian plants in Venice and Gela and a United States plant in Louisiana, operated under its 50 percent-owned joint venture St Bernard Renewables LLC, according to the company.

Earlier this year Eni began construction for a biorefinery project with LG Chem at the latter’s Daesan Chemical Complex in South Korea.

Targeted for completion 2027, the plant will have an annual bio-feedstock processing capacity of about 400,000 metric tons and produce HVO and SAF, Eni said August 4.

Eni said last month it had launched the authorization process for an Environmental Impact Assessment to build another biorefinery and a chemical recycling plant in Sicily, after receiving approval from Italy’s Environment and Energy Security Ministry.

Designed to produce up to 500,000 metric tons per annum of HVO diesel and SAF, the Priolo project will rise on the site of an Eni ethylene plant set to be decommissioned, Eni said in a press release October 9.

Eni said it will be its second biorefinery in Sicily, after the Gela plant, which began biofuel production 2019 after being transformed from a petrochemical site.

The Priolo biorefinery will be fed mainly by vegetable waste and oils and animal fats, Eni said.

On September 23 Eni said it had received approval from the ministry to convert several units at the Sannazzaro de’ Burgondi refinery in Pavia into a biorefinery.

The refinery will continue traditional operations alongside a new processing capacity of 550,000 metric tons a year for biofuel feedstock, mainly waste and residues. Expected to start operations 2028, the biorefinery will have the flexibility to produce SAF and HVO diesel.

“The new Sannazzaro biorefinery will strengthen the site’s strategic role in supplying traditional jet fuel and SAF to north-west Italian airports, via both the pipeline connection to Milan Malpensa airport and depots connected to the refinery near other airports”, Eni said.

“Through Enilive, Eni is already the second-largest producer of HVO biofuels in Europe, including both diesel and biojet (SAF)”, the company said.

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