Eni has inaugurated in Piacenza the first plant in Italy that supplies liquid methane (LNG) for refueling heavy transport. The service station is the first of a series that Eni will build over the next four years along the main national road transport arteries.
For the use of LNG, Iveco tractors (methane monofuel) are already available for the transport of goods over long distances. LNG is obtained by cooling gaseous methane to its dewpoint, which corresponds to approximately -161°C.
For delivery to service stations, cryogenic tankers are used, which depart from equipped coastal depots, in turn fed by methane tankers, which carry the product already in a liquid state. In Europe there are several coastal terminals that can be used for loading cryogenic tankers, located for example in Belgium and Spain, a leading country in Europe for LNG.
The storage of LNG in the service station makes it possible to build the methane system even where a methane pipeline is not available nearby or, if present, with insufficient connection pressure (<2 bar) to ensure cost-effective management. Eni participates in the European project "LNG Blue Corridors", which has among its objectives the development of service stations equipped with low environmental impact fuels along four major commercial routes that cross the continent from north to south. The plant inaugurated today in Piacenza represents the plant standard for the continuation of Eni's commitment to LNG development.
