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. The global objective to address the challenge of climate change and provide affordable and reliable energy requires developing both renewable energy technologies and near-zero carbon emission technologies.

This technology 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 practiced in the oil industry to improve oil recoveries; the USA has 2,000 miles of pipeline for the transport of CO₂ for this purpose. This technology will be readily adapted for the geological storage of CO₂, and is 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 environment performance of coal. These include:

FutureGen
Futuregen is a US Presidential initiative with the US Department of Energy. The project is a partnership between the US government and an alliance of companies involved in coal and gas production and electricity generation. The industry consortium includes the Rio Tinto US coal company, Kennecott Energy Company and eight other companies, all among the nation's largest electric utilities and coal companies. Using the latest technology, it will generate electricity, sequester greenhouse gases, and provide a new source of clean-burning hydrogen.

CO2CRC
The Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) is developing advanced technologies and systems for the capture and storage of CO₂ that will:

• enable Australia to decrease its CO₂ emissions;
• maintain the competitiveness of its industries and develop new commercial opportunities;
• ensure the long term sustainability of Australia's fossil fuel and energy intensive exports;
• provide the basis for emission free industries and a future hydrogen economy; and
• contribute to the resolution of a global environmental issue of great community concern.

More: www.co2crc.com.au

COAL21
COAL21 is a partnership between the coal and electricity industries, Australian federal and state governments and the research community. Key objectives of the COAL21 project are to:

• create a national plan to scope, develop, demonstrate and implement near-zero emissions coal-based electricity generation while maintaining Australia's competitive electricity advantage;
• promote relevant Australian RD&D;
• foster greater public awareness of the role of coal and potential for near zero emissions coal-based electricity generation; and
• provide a mechanism for effective interaction and integration with other international zero-emission coal initiatives.

More: www.australiancoal.com.au

Global Energy Technology Strategy Programme (GSTP)
The GTSP is a long term research program designed to address climate change issues. The GTSP is run by the Battelle Institute in the US and the research programme is undertaken with the active participation of others in the industrial value chain, companies, economists, academics, government officials, and NGOs. GTSP Phase II will help to define which technologies and more importantly which combinations of technologies will be critical to responsibly meeting the challenges of climate change.

More: http://gtsp.battelle.org

CRC for Coal in Sustainable Development (CCSD)
A A$61 million, seven year programme with 17 participants from coal producers, electricity utilities, universities, the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation) and government. CCSD is undertaking research aimed at improving the efficiency of using coal and to understand the social and economic dimensions of coal production and use in Australia and its region.

More: www.ccsd.biz

Electric Power Research Institute
This US institute is the leading global supplier of R&D into the utility sector. Rio Tinto funds programmes in carbon capture and storage, gasification, and conventional power generation; and uses EPRI to monitor activities in renewables and green power.

More: www.epri.com

International Energy Agency Greenhouse Program
Funded by a mixture of governments, industry associations and companies, RTE is a member through the Australian consortium. The program brings together a range of views, publishes state of the art reviews and convenes a variety of R&D consortia - eg carbon capture.

More: www.co2sequestration.info

ACARP
The Australian Coal Association Research Programme (ACARP), raises money through a levy on each tonne of coal produced to fund research in to coal mine issues. The levy was recently increased to raise additional funds to target greenhouse gas mitigation arising from the coal mining activities.

More http://www.acarp.com.au

Coal in Sustainable Society (CISS)
A A$3 million programme of life cycle analysis and communications that compares existing and emerging coal utilisation technologies with alternatives - fossil and non fossil, and which identifies improvement opportunities.

Pegasus Technologies
A technology that optimises the operation of coal fired electricity generators to minimise their fuel requirements and reduce the emission of major pollutants.

Hydrogen on demand
US Borax, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto, is participating in the further development and possible commercialisation of a process which generates pure hydrogen or electricity from environmentally friendly raw materials such as borates.

Solar Hydrogen
Processing of reduced-band-gap titania for solar hydrogen. Research program to develop higher efficiency titania for direct solar photochemical hydrogen production. This project is being undertaken by University of NSW, Australia with Rio Tinto a major sponsor

Rio Tinto Foundation for a Sustainable Minerals Industry
Rio Tinto and the Australian Government announced the formation in 2002 of the Rio Tinto Foundation for a Sustainable Minerals Industry, a research and technical development partnership to jointly fund sustainable minerals industry programmes, including projects related to energy efficiency and greenhouse gas sequestration. Comalco leads the development and implementation of the programme.

Foundation projects include three research and development programmes that have been identified by Rio Tinto and the Australian Government as priorities.

• Enhanced bio-fixation of carbon dioxide:

Molecular breeding is a promising potential route to developing new chemical and biological processes of carbon dioxide sequestration. In partnership with Maxygen, a Californian company and a leader in this field, Rio Tinto will accelerate its research programme in this area.

• Increased energy efficiency in mining and processing:

More efficient use of energy across all aspects of mining and processing will reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. The company will pursue some substantial opportunities for the increased energy efficiency, particularly in the bauxite and iron ore industries.

• Development of advanced aluminium smelting cells:

Advanced cell technology, including the use of inert anodes and wetted cathodes, could reduce the electricity needed for primary aluminium production by 25 to 30 per cent. In Australia, where a large proportion of this electricity originates from fossil fuel power stations, success will provide substantial greenhouse gas reductions.