Crescentino biorefinery will come back to life by the first half of 2020

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Type of post: NEWS.

Versalis (Eni’s chemical company) has just announced that all the plants at Crescentino (Vercelli, Piedmont) will be up and running by the first half of 2020. The biorefinery, acquired in November 2018, is designed for industrial-scale production of bioethanol and has been upgraded with an investment of more than 15 M€.
Press release: “Versalis: biomass power plant restarted at Crescentino and bioethanol production onstream within the first half of the year”, 8/2/2020.
Related posts:
- “Crescentino Bioethanol Plant”, 9/4/2015.
- “Versalis acquires Beta Renewables and Biochemtex”, 9/12/2015.

Figure 1. Crescentino biorefinery

This emblematic facility (first plant in the world dedicated to the industrial production of 2G bioethanol) was commissioned at the end of 2012 by Beta Renewables. In September 2017, the four companies of the Gruppo Mossi Ghisolfi (including Beta Renewables) entered into bankruptcy and the future of the plant got dark. A year later, Versalis won the bidding process for the green assets of the Gruppo Mossi Ghisolfi with the aim of developing an integrated technological platform of chemicals from biomass.

Now, the biomass power plant for renewable electricity generation and part of the water treatment plant with biogas production have already been restarted and activities are ongoing to restart the bioethanol plant within the first half of 2020. The plant uses the PROESA® proprietary technology. The layout of the Crescentino facility makes it possible to use a system to completely recycle all water and also makes the site completely energy independent through the use of lignin as feedstock for the power plant.

The Versalis Biotech Research Centres at Rivalta Scrivia (Alessandria) and Novara are currently working on further developments in the production of a complete range of fermentative renewable products (PHAs and intermediates for biopolymers and biochemicals), all made from 2G sugars produced with the PROESA® technology. They are also carrying out trials on developing lignin for new market applications.

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