It is an investment of almost 8 million euros, within a five-year development plan that has resources of 45 million in its belly to be channeled into R&D, new assets and innovative products by 2026. These are the numbers pitted by the CEO of Alma Petroli, Sergio Bovo, on the occasion of the ribbon cutting of the new production unit in Ravenna, where the European bitumen “boutique” was born over 60 years ago and where today it achieves over 100 million euros in turnover, 40% of which of exports all over the world.
Microscopic numbers in the refinery sector, but Alma Petroli has managed to carve out a niche of excellence, so much so that today it is counted as the most important European company in special bitumen (as well as the smallest crude oil refinery) and the only one that remains independent, still today in the hands of the founding families Serena Monghini and Baracca, with a team of 90 people. “The plant we are inaugurating – explains the CEO – has all Italian technologies and is the visible result of over two years of research conducted on a new range of modified bitumen with the addition of polymers, the” Fastdraining “, which are our product. and the bet on the sustainable future: the mistreated bitumens are in fact a non-polluting and totally recyclable petroleum derivative ».
Bitumen does not emit CO2, because carbon is retained in solid form, it is reusable (Germany is teaching with recycling rates of 85%) and it is a fundamental material not only for asphalting but for construction as an insulator and waterproofer. to coat submarine cables and for industrial applications.
The new modified bitumen Alma Fastdraining also represents the company’s leap into the new green era: “Thanks to the addition of polymers – specifies Bovo – we have created a sophisticated product for asphalting capable of reducing friction, therefore fuel consumption. , noise, tire wear, extending the life of vehicles and roads. Little changes whether the mobility of the future is the prerogative of combustion, hydrogen or electric vehicles, the green transition requires everyone to contribute to reducing consumption and pollution and our special bitumen is our answer to the energy challenge ».
The Ravenna petrochemical site has a processing capacity of 550 thousand tons per year and produces 300 thousand tons of bitumen, with a flexibility in logistical terms that is unparalleled in Europe, thanks to the strategic position attached to the port of Ravenna, with which it can handle materials. raw and produced via the Mediterranean. The new production unit, with three 90 m3 tanks and a capacity in a first step of about 30 thousand tons per year, quickly doubled, when it is decided to feed the cycle also with third-party refined products. Now the revamping of new spaces already acquired by Alma Petroli within the petrochemical sector will start to accompany the expansion of the business, an investment of 14 million euros.