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 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 environmental performance of coal. These include:

FutureGen
Futuregen is an initiative between the US government and an alliance of companies involved in coal and gas production and electricity generation. The industry consortium includes Rio Tinto's Kennecott Energy Company and eight other companies. Using the latest technology, it will be the testing ground to 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; and
• provide the basis for emission free industries and a future hydrogen economy.

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 R&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 (GTSP)
The GTSP is a long term research programme 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.

More: www.gtsp.battelle.org

CRC for Coal in Sustainable Development (CCSD)
CCSD is 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. It undertakes 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 Programme
Funded by a mixture of governments, industry associations and companies, RTE is a member through the Australian consortium. The programme 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 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.

More: Millennium cell

Solar Hydrogen
Processing of reduced-band-gap titania for solar hydrogen. Research programmme 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.