Eni signs letter of intent in Kenya to study the value chain of biofuels – chemical engineering

By Mary Page Bailey | July 22, 2021

Eni SpA (Rome, Italy) and the Kenyan Ministry of Petroleum and Mining signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) promoting the decarbonization process to combat climate change through new industrial models of a fully integrated circular economy along the entire biofuel production value chain.

The parties will jointly conduct feasibility studies to develop waste and residue collection, as well as agricultural projects, with the aim of establishing a wide range of raw material sources that do not compete with food cycles and are converted into biofuels and bioproducts that could help the biorefineries from Eni in Gela and Venice, Italy. The parties will also examine the possibility of converting the Mombasa refinery into a biorefinery and the construction of a new plant for second generation bioethanol from waste biomass using Eni’s Ecofining and Proesa technologies.

The agricultural development project focuses on the development of sustainable oil crop cultivation – namely raw materials with low ILUC (indirect land use change) such as catch crops, castor in degraded soils, croton trees in agro-forest systems and other agro-industrial by-products.

The collection of waste and residues would aim to promote and implement a collection system for UCO and other residues from agricultural processing.

This initiative will help diversify Kenya’s energy mix and support the overall decarbonization process, while reducing the country’s reliance on imports of petroleum products. Other expected benefits are the development of sustainable agricultural activities and the circular economy, the generation of electricity from renewable sources, the promotion of the economic competitiveness of local industry and the creation of new jobs.

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