Rio Tinto $RIO (-1,12%) announced today that it has successfully completed the group's first biofuel trial across its network of ports, railroads and mines in Western Australia as it seeks to decarbonize its iron ore operations.
The trial, which ran for four weeks from January to February, was conducted in partnership with Finnish renewable diesel producer Neste $NESTE (-0,11%) and Australian fuel supplier Viva Energy.
For the trial, Neste provided 10 million liters of renewable diesel made from used cooking oil. The fuel was transported by Viva Energy from Singapore to the Parker Point fuel depot in Dampier and blended with fossil diesel at the port to produce a blend of around 20% renewable diesel. It was then distributed to Rio Tinto's iron ore operations in the Pilbara for use in rail, marine, blasting, transportation vehicles, surface mining equipment and light vehicles.
The trial provided an understanding of how the use of renewable diesel could be scaled up in Rio Tinto's Australian operations in the future and provided key insights into the bulk renewable diesel supply chain, import and blending processes, Rio said.
The trial also reduced Rio Tinto's Scope 1 emissions by approximately 27,000 tons of direct greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the tailpipe emissions of 6,300 cars in one year, the company added.
"Diesel accounts for around 70% of total carbon emissions from our iron ore operations in the Pilbara. While electrification is the ultimate longer-term solution for repowering the majority of our fleet, we are also investigating biofuels as a complementary and short-term solution," Richard Cohen, Rio Tinto's managing director of rail, port and core services, said in a press release.
"Through this trial with Neste and Viva Energy, we have gained valuable insight into how renewable diesel can help bridge the gap to widespread electrification, and also for situations where electrification is not suitable," Cohen said.
Rio Tinto is actively exploring the potential of biofuels as part of its ongoing efforts to meet its Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets of 50% by 2030 and net zero by 2050. This trial builds on the successful transition at the Boron and Kennecott operations in the US, where 11% of total fossil diesel consumption has been replaced with renewable diesel.
The world's largest iron ore producer is also developing a pongamia seed farm in North Queensland as part of a biofuel pilot project to help grow Australia's biofuel industry.
