Specific projects
Zero emissions research and demonstration
Through our coal business in the US, Kennecott Energy Corporation, we are participating as an alliance partner in the US Government's FutureGen initiative. This project aims to build a large scale carbon sequestration demonstration facility, incorporating electricity and hydrogen production, and will be conducted in a highly scientific manner with extensive public and stakeholder involvement.
We also participate in two Australian programmes that complement the US FutureGen programme:
- The CO2 Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) which is focusing on CO2 capture and sequestration; and
- The CRC for Coal in Sustainable Development, which is conducting research on coal gasification, a key technology to enable more cost effective carbon capture and the production of hydrogen for future power needs.
Stakeholder engagement
Rio Tinto Energy is a participant in the Australian coal industry's COAL21 programme. COAL21 is a partnership of governments, industries and the research community. It is aimed at developing a national approach to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from coal fired electricity while maintaining Australia's low cost electricity advantage. Genuine and credible stakeholder engagement, including green and social non government organisations, unions, and the renewables and energy intensive industries is fundamental to COAL21 and shapes all of its activities.
Supporting government initiatives
Contributing to government public policy development at a national and international level to support future approval of carbon sequestration including the 14 government initiative, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.
Working with customers
Through Rössing uranium mine we are partnering with one of our customers to undertake a cradle to grave analysis of all inputs and outputs that go into producing electricity.
Coal emissions
Rio Tinto Energy is working within the industry and with governments to build support for a number of research initiatives into near zero carbon emissions.
This involves the capture of CO2 at power stations with permanent storage of the CO2 in underground geological structures such as deep saline aquifers and very deep coal seams. Two key technologies for the conversion of coal into clean energy will be coal gasification and geological storage of CO2.
Coal gasification converts the coal into a gas stream that can be used in gas turbine power plants. Such plants make more efficient use of the mined coal while enabling the cost effective removal of carbon from the gas stream before combustion, leaving hydrogen as a gaseous fuel.
Underground placement of CO2 is widely practised in the oil industry to improve oil recoveries; the US has 2,000 miles of pipeline for the transport of CO2 for this purpose. This technology could be adapted for the geological storage of CO2, and is potentionally a safe and permanent solution to greenhouse emissions in appropriately selected geology.
Rio Tinto Energy invests in a number of commercial enterprises and collaborative programmes to develop and commercialise new technologies aimed at improving the environmental performance of coal.
Innovations in Energy
Much of Rio Tinto's coal product is used by the electricity generation sector. In the past there has been significant innovation and improvement in generation efficiencies. The sector continues to seek gains and is focused on both carbon capture and storage technologies and in the longer term movement to the hydrogen economy. While Rio Tinto has little direct involvement in the electricity supply sector, we are keen to assist the development of innovative technologies by contributing our knowledge of coal properties and of coal related technologies.
Rio Tinto maintains significant coal technology expertise and is actively engaged in promoting the demonstration, both in Australia and the USA, of carbon capture and storage. Rio Tinto considers that the engineering components of carbon capture and storage technology are well proven, however, further work remains to be done around defining and recognising prospective storage geology, storage monitoring and verification, and legal, regulatory, and outreach issues. These areas, along with the need to reduce costs through demonstration of the technologies at scale, need to be the focus in the first of the large scale demonstrations of the combined electricity generation and carbon storage process that will be the next step in the adoption of this innovation. In this regard Rio Tinto is active in the following areas:
- Coal 21: An organisation of Australian utilities and coal producers aiming to promote and facilitate the demonstration, commercialisation and early uptake of clean coal technologies in Australia - see http://www.coal21.com.au.
- Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI): EPRI undertakes activities to address society's most urgent and important needs related to electricity and the environment. These are related to generation, delivery and end-use; with a special focus on safe, reliable, cost-effective electricity and environmental stewardship - see http://www.epri.com.
- Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP): This programme supports projects investigating improved greenhouse gas reporting methodologies, the assessment of mine site GHG emissions, and the development of carbon capture and storage technologies - see http://acarp.colm.au.
- Research Centre for Coal in Sustainable Development (CCSD): The CCSD aims to facilitate the development and use of sustainable coal based energy technologies - see http://www.ccsd.biz.
- The CO2 Cooperative Research Centre: The CO2 CRC researches the capture of CO2 from industrial systems and its geological storage - see http://www.co2crc.com.au.
- FutureGen: A US Department of Energy initiative that aims to install a large gasification power station with integrated hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage as a prototype demonstration of zero emission coal fired technologies - see http://www.fe.doe.gov/programs/powersystems/futuregen.
- International Industry Associations such as the International Energy Agency's Coal Industry Advisory Board and the World Coal Institute: These bodies support the development of policy and regulatory frameworks which facilitate the deployment and commercialisation of clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies - see http://iea.org/ciab/index.asp and http://www.wci-coal.com.
- cLET: A Queensland Government/utility/CSIRO initiative based around gasification technologies, funded indirectly through ACARP, RTE influences cLET activities through membership of the Research Committee.
- BioEnergy Australia: This is a government-industry forum to foster and facilitate the development of biomass for energy, liquid fuels, and other value added bio-based products. The group actively participates in and has access to the International Energy Agency's Bioenergy programme.
- Ash Development Association of Australia: This association is funded by Australian producers and marketers of Power Station ash, with the objective of conducting research and technology transfer around the beneficial use of ash materials for all stakeholders. Rio Tinto is an associate member.
Stakeholder engagement
Rio Tinto Energy is a participant in the Australian coal industry's COAL21 programme. COAL21 is a partnership of governments, industries and the research community. It is aimed at developing a national approach to eliminating greenhouse gas emissions from coal fired electricity while maintaining Australia's low cost electricity advantage. Genuine and credible stakeholder engagement, including green and social non government organisations, unions, and the renewables and energy intensive industries is fundamental to COAL21 and shapes all of its activities.
Supporting government initiatives
Contributing to government public policy development at a national and international level to support future approval of carbon sequestration including the 14 government initiative, Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.
Working with customers
Through Rössing uranium mine we are partnering with one of our customers to undertake a cradle to grave analysis of all inputs and outputs that go into producing electricity.
More information on Rio Tinto's response to Climate change
Back to top