Few people know that the name of Iplom – the small refinery that announces Genoa to anyone coming down the curves of the Serravalle motorway – originally stood for “Industria Piemontese Lavorazione Oli Minerali”, and that its original location was far from the sea: a Moncalieri, where he was born in 1931 founded by Giovanni Battista Profumo, and remained there until 1943. «Do you know that at the moment, if I have to be honest, I don’t remember why the company was born in Piedmont? But you see, my grandfather was an engineer who worked in that area, even if the family, which has always been the main shareholder of the company, was very Genoese – says Giorgio Profumo, the CEO of Iplom -. But they were also very different times compared to today, the industry was at the beginning ». A shed, some stills, and we were ready to launch into a market that at the time seemed to have no borders.
Why was the plant moved to Busalla?
“It was the country where my family wintered. And it had the advantage of being closer to the Po Valley, but also 20 kilometers from the sea: and look today. The only surviving refineries in Italy are those on the coast, almost no internal plants exist anymore ».
The smallest refinery in Italy: 1.8 million tons of product per year.
«When the settlement in the hills of Busalla was conceived, the theme of spaces was not raised. But the industry grew anyway, today we are 353 for a turnover of 616 million in 2021, with a turnover of about 500 other people in the area. And around the refinery houses and services have sprung up, in short, it has brought jobs, like all factories. From 2014-15 we have invested 200 million. But net of this, our idea has never been to compete with large industrial plants, with large-scale productions. Indeed, the goal has always been to work on innovative niche products ».
Where do you export?
«We export about 20% of the fuel oil that is not absorbed by the port of Genoa. Everything else, therefore gasoline, low sulfur content diesel, bitumen are destined for the Italian market. After all, when I started working in the seventies, Italy had 33 refineries for a production capacity of 250 million tons a year, today the capacity is 87 million tons, compared to processing for 65 million “.
How do you face the 2035 horizon, when the sale of petrol, diesel and LPG cars will be banned at EU level?
«Well, obviously mine is a very interested comment: I don’t think we will be able to free ourselves from fossil fuels or internal combustion engines so easily. The green light from the European Parliament to this part of the Fit for 55 is part of a process: for the refineries, the closure should not be envisaged, but decarbonisation. We were the first to methanize the entire plant, and since 2000 we have activated a system for capturing CO2: we sold it to mineral water companies, and we would have the tools to capture 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, cutting the 55% of our emissions. But we can no longer sell it, because the CO2 put back into circulation does not count as decarbonisation: we have to wait until the best storage system is identified ».
So no investments in alternative sources …
“In reverse. We are actually investing six million euros for the production of green hydrogen, from photovoltaics, for part of the needs of the refinery and for oxygen to cover the entire needs of the plant. And then we are close to the motorway and the railway: we are ready to build the first and so far only green hydrogen distributor in Liguria, when the market asks for it ».
What are the fuels you are working on?
“First of all, I like to remind you that we were among the first in the world to make, since 2018, and to supply, from 2020, low-sulfur fuel for ships, when this has become mandatory worldwide in maritime transport. Now we have recently concluded the tests for the use of vegetable oils in production plants, up to 10% of the charge, to produce the bio part currently required in diesel fuel – which is what allows you to reduce CO2 without having to change cars ” .