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