Remediation

Gela

We have created the foundations for our circular project at the Sicilian site.

1999

Start of the remediation process

Anic

Origin of areas

795 ha (of land)

Surface area of the Gela Site of National Priority, of which 21 are owned by Eni Rewind and ~ 55 are owned by ISAF

€ 331 million

Environmental costs at 2023 (including approximately € 106 million by Isaf)

OPEX ~ € 18.7 mln

Annual water management costs

~ 6,922,000 m³

Water treated in 2023

~ 1,044,000 m³

Water recovered in 2023

Gela, the beginning of our sustainability challenge

In Gela, a Site of national priority since 2000 with 795 hectares onshore, our activities are part of Eni’s plan for requalifying and relaunching the territory. The site's origins date back to 1960 when, following the discovery of oil in the Gela subsoil, the petrochemical plant was built. Between 1967 and 1968, Isaf, which was owned by Ente Minerario Siciliano (48%) with Anic (26%) and Montedison (26%), started up the complex fertiliser, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid and acrylonitrile plants. In the 1970s the assets of cracker, high-density polyethylene and chlorine cycle and derivatives were added. The setting changed dramatically in the early 1990s: many production activities were stopped and, following the failed Enimont operation, the Isafshares held by Montedison and Anic were transferred to Enichem (Syndial from 2003, now Eni Rewind), which became the majority shareholder with 52% of the share capital. Remediation of the site began in 1999 and is managed by Eni’s environmental company, which also operates on behalf of Versalis, Enimed and Gela Biorefinery at the same site.

Our activities in Gela

In Gela, Eni Rewind is the owner and holder of the remediation obligations for the former Anic areas and manages the Isaf environmental activities on island 9 (3 hectares) and at the former Isaf phosphogypsum landfill (52 hectares). The interventions, authorised by decree and in part already completed, comprised emergency and permanent safety measures, soil and water remediation, and the demolition of plants, warehouses and buildings, including the decommissioning activities covered by the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019. With regards to soils reclamation, environmental works have been ongoing on islands 2, 6, 9 and 17 since 2018. Between 2021 and 2022, the company completed the permanent safety measures of island 1. On the ISAF areas, in 2012 the company carried out permanent safety measures of the former phosphogypsum Isaf landfill, which now hosts a 5MW photovoltaic plant, and is continuing the emptying and dismantling of the former phosphoric acid plant, the decanter and the tank farm in island 9. On the multi-company site, Eni Rewind is in charge of groundwater remediation activities, also on behalf of the co-located companies, through the pumping and treatment of water as well as the application of a combination of innovative technologies tailored for the complexity of the site, which include the e-hyrec device and ground circulation wells. Since 2014, the monitoring protocol for hydraulic efficiency and hydrochemical effectiveness, approved by the authorities, is in use. On the decommissioning front, Eni Rewind has completed the demolition of the Acrylonitrile plant (island 17) and will start work on the warehouses and buildings on island 6, the former Agricoltura site.

Gela is a virtuous example of environmental recovery, technological innovation and requalification of disused areas in view of their possible repurposing, such as for the development of plants for the production of energy from renewable sources. A case in point is the installation of a 5 MW photovoltaic plant on the former phosphogypsum Isaf landfill, following permanent safety measures. The pioneering initiative, completed in 2012, enables to save around 1,600 tonnes of oil each year. In 2018, another photovoltaic plant with a capacity of 0,99 MW was installed on a remediated area of around 3 ha, previously used for ethylene oxide and derivatives production.

Since 2016, Eni Rewind has been engaged in the decommissioning of the phosphoric acid plant in an area owned by the former Sicilian Phosphoric Acid Industry - ISAF. The asset’s production activity was interrupted in 1992 and the tanks, basins and pipes were left with raw materials and production residues to be disposed of. The project, one of the most challenging from both a design and economic point of view, involves the demolition and subsequent transfer of the resulting material to a dedicated on-site landfill, as well as the remediation of soil, subsoil and groundwater. The program is divided into four phases: the emptying of the decanter and the treatment of the extracted sludge in an authorised mobile plant; the emptying of the tanks and the treatment of the liquid phase; the demolition of the phosphoric acid plant, the decanter and the tanks; the construction, cultivation and closure of the landfill for inert and demolitions materials, to be carried out within the perimeter of the former Isaf Phosphogypsum Landfill. All interventions are expected to be completed by 2029.

At Gela, Eni Rewind, as part of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2019 by Eni and the Ministry of the Environment, is carrying out the demolition of disused plants related to the traditional refining process. For the interventions on the taller structures, top-down dismantling was required in order to avoid interference with other operational activities at the site, while ensuring the recovery of about 6,000 tonnes of scrap metal, machines and electrical cables that will find a second life in the civil and industrial sectors. All the activities envisaged in the demolition schedule will be completed by 2027.

Read about our other remediation projects

We have carried out environmental remediation and regeneration activities in former industrial and brownfield sites.

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Gela

1999

Anic

795 ha (of land)

€ 331 million

OPEX ~ € 18.7 mln

~ 6,922,000 m³

~ 1,044,000 m³

Gela, the beginning of our sustainability challenge

Our activities in Gela

Focus on Gela

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