MOSCOW (MRC) -- Versalis, Eni's chemical company, and BTS Biogas, an Italian company in the building and managing sector of biogas plants, have agreed to develop and commercialise an innovative technology for the production of biogas and biomethane from residual lignocellulosic biomass, according to Eni's press release.
This technology will integrate Versalis' proprietary technology for the thermomechanical processing of biomass with BTS Biogas' technology for the fermentation production of biogas and biomethane.
BTS Biogas has expertise in the production of biogas and biomethane from various biomass sources and the research and development infrastructure to evaluate their processing capacity and yields on an experimental basis.
Versalis, as part of Eni's broader decarbonization strategy, has launched a transformation plan that aims to diversify its activities and products, and increase its contribution to technological development for increasingly sustainable industrial solutions.
The partnership will enable the production of biogas and advanced biomethane with high yields from residual lignocellulosic biomass, thereby contributing to the large-scale development of advanced biomethane production with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and no agronomic impact.
As MRC reported earlier, in October 2021, the “Cracker of the Future” consortium announced two new members and accelerating the development of a game-changing technology for the electrification of the steam cracking process. This enables a revolutionary decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. The consortium announced two new member companies: Repsol and Versalis have recently joined the consortium.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and PP, respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,047,100 tonnes in the first ten months of 2021, up by 17% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,226,530 tonnes in January-October 2021, up by 26% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding stat-copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
Eni is an Italian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Rome. It has operations in in 79 countries, and is currently Italy's largest industrial company. The Italian government owns a 30.3% golden share in the company, 3.93% held through the state Treasury and 26.37% held through the Cassa depositi e prestiti. Another 39.40% of the shares are held by BNP Paribas.
MRC