Eni Sustainable Mobility, a unit of Italian oil and gas company Eni, has partnered with chemicals company LG Chem to set up a new biorefinery.

The proposed facility is to be built at the chemical company’s Daesan chemical complex 80km south-west of Seoul, South Korea.

Under the partnership, the companies are assessing the economic and technical viability of the facility, leveraging their respective industry expertise.

A final investment decision for the project is expected by 2024, with plans to complete the facility at the integrated petrochemical complex by 2026.

Eni said the prospective biorefinery hopes to cater to the rising demand for fuels and plastics made using low-carbon technologies that are more environmentally friendly.

Using Eni's Ecofining technology, the biorefinery will be designed to process around 400,000 tonnes of bio-feedstocks annually.

It will produce a variety of commodities such as bio-naphtha, hydrotreated vegetable oil and sustainable aviation fuel.

Developed in collaboration with Honeywell-UOP, the Ecofining technique is used to convert biologically derived raw materials into biofuel.

Eni said it will supply the South Korean biorefinery with sustainable feedstock that is mostly based on leftovers and waste products from the production of vegetable oils, used cooking oil, and vegetable oils from drought-resistant crops grown on degraded, semi-arid or abandoned soils.

Currently, the Italian oil and gas company operates two biorefineries at home in Porto Marghera, Venice and Gela, Sicily.

In June this year, Eni Sustainable Mobility formed a joint venture with PBF Energy by acquiring a 50% stake in the St. Bernard Renewables biorefinery.

Based in Louisiana, US, the bio-refinery also uses the Ecofining technology.

Earlier this month, Eni reached an agreement to sell Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) to Oando.

NAOC is engaged in onshore oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria.