LG Chem, Eni exploring possible biorefinery in South Korea

SINGAPORE (ICIS)–South Korean producer LG Chem and Italian energy firm Eni on Thursday said they are jointly exploring the possibility to develop and operate a new biorefinery at LG Chem’s Daesan chemical complex.

The two companies are examining the technical and economic feasibilities for the proposed project, the company said in a joint statement.

“Final decision for the investment is scheduled by 2024 and the plant will be completed by 2026 at the existing integrated petrochemical complex in Daesan, Korea,” they said.

The potential biorefinery is designed to process around 400,000 tonnes/year of bio-feedstocks using Eni’s Ecofining process, developed in collaboration with Honeywell UOP.

The biorefinery will have the flexibility to process renewable bio-feedstocks and produce multiple products including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), and bio-naphtha.

The proposed biorefinery is aimed at meeting the “growing demand for more sustainable fuels and plastics produced by low-carbon processes, as well as to help progressively decarbonize the energy and mobility sector”, the two firms added.

Eni will provide the South Korean biorefinery with sustainable feedstock mainly based on waste and residues from the processing of vegetable oils, used cooking oil, and also vegetable oils from drought-resistant crops in degraded, semi-arid, or abandoned soils not in competition with the food chain.