Australia-based miner Rio Tinto has announced that, together with global renewable diesel producer Neste and Australian fuel supplier Viva Energy, it has conducted a renewable diesel trial at its iron ore operations in the Pilbara region for the first time. Fossil diesel accounts for about 70 percent of the total carbon emissions from Rio Tinto’s Pilbara iron ore operations.
In the four-week trial between January and February this year, Neste provided 10 million liters of renewable diesel produced from cooking oil, which, in return, was blended with fossil diesel to attain a mix with about 20 percent renewable diesel. As a result, Rio Tinto used it in rail, marine, blasting, haul trucks, surface mining equipment and light vehicles across its Pilbara iron ore operations.
According to the results of the trial, which demonstrated an understanding of how renewable diesel use could be used in Rio Tinto’s operations in the future, the Australian miner managed to cut its direct greenhouse gas emissions by 27,000 tons. Rio Tinto is also actively exploring the potential of biofuels within the scope of its Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets of 50 percent by 2030 and net zero by 2050.