Eni-Novamont joint venture to build €500m biorefinery in Italy
27 May 2011 14:02 [Source: ICIS news]
LONDON (ICIS)--Bioplastics producer Novamont and Eni subsidiary Polimeri Europa have signed a joint-venture agreement to build and manage a €500m ($704m) biorefinery at the Porto Torres petrochemical facility in
The Porto Torres facility is operated by petrochemical producer Polimeri Europa and its sister company, Syndial.
Under the joint-venture agreement, renewable raw materials will be used to build a “green centre” that will produce biomonomers, biolubricants, biofillers, biointermediates/additives for elastomers, and bioplastics.
Novamont's contribution to the joint venture will be to provide its proprietary technologies for the design, building and operation of the facilities, while Eni will provide the site, the infrastructure and skilled labour.
Eni, through Polimeri Europa, hopes the project will help it become a leader in “green chemistry” – chemistry using renewable raw materials.
“Through this strategic alliance between Polimeri Europa and Novamont, Eni believes that it can become a world leader in the bioplastics sector, a 100% Italian leader, which may bring numerous advantages for Italy, not least in economic and social terms,” said Eni.
“This will be the springboard from which Eni will build one of the world's largest and most innovative chemical centres from renewable sources,” the company added.
The companies said there will be three stages to the investment in the Porto Torres Green Centre.
The initial investment will be the building of facilities to produce biomonomers for bioplastics, biolubricants, and biointermediates/additives for elastomers.
Then, facilities to produce biofillers and biointermediates/additives for elastomers will be built, followed by the capacity expansion of the initial facilities and the construction of a bioplastics plant.
Details of the construction start date were not disclosed.
($1 = €0.71)
By: Franco Capaldo
+44 (0)20 8652 3214
For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.
Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.
| ICIS news FREE TRIAL |
| Get access to breaking chemical news as it happens. |
| ICIS Global Petrochemical Index (IPEX) |
| ICIS Global Petrochemical Index (IPEX). Download the free tabular data and a chart of the historical index |
Related Articles
- 03 Oct 11 17:42 EPCA ’11: Polimeri strategy changes being discussed - Ferrari
- 29 Jul 11 15:38 Polimeri expects Porto Marghera cracker restart early next week
- 29 Jul 11 08:26 Italy’s Eni’s petrochemical division Q2 loss unchanged at €23m
- 21 Jun 11 17:03 INSIGHT: Porto Torres to close, only to be born again
- 21 Jun 11 13:59 Ethylene cracker in Porto Torres to close in June, says Eni
- 31 May 11 22:15 US corn crop in good shape despite slow start
- 19 Jan 11 21:15 Italy bioplastics firm Novamont sets up new US company
- 02 Dec 10 15:38 Novamont to raise biopolymer capacity with new plant in Italy
Latest News
- 20 Jun 13 11:39 EU March ABS imports down by 16% year-on-year
- 20 Jun 13 11:33 Chemical logistics sector battles plummeting margins
- 20 Jun 13 11:03 Indonesian 2014 bauxite export ban 'to hit caustic soda demand'
- 20 Jun 13 11:00 EVENING SNAPSHOT - Asia Markets Summary
- 20 Jun 13 10:54 European Chemicals Agency adds six chemicals to high concern list