Rio Tinto Shifts Kennecott Mine To Renewable Diesel

The largest mining company in the world, Rio Tinto, has made a remarkable step towards sustainability by turning its entire heavy equipment used in its Kennecott copper mine in Utah into renewable diesel. The equipment helps reduce emissions and air pollution. Kennecott mine is one of the world's largest copper mines. It replaced all the conventional diesel of 97 haul trucks and heavy equipment used with renewable diesel. Significant reductions in Scope 1 emissions are targeted. The switch is expected to reduce Kennecott's carbon footprint by 450,000 tonnes and eliminate particulate matter emissions by 40%.

Rio Tinto's plan fits into a broader effort to become environmentally responsible in line with its 2030 commitment to cut its operational Scope 1 and 2 emissions in half, followed by net zero emissions by 2050. The company is aggressively moving toward integrating renewables at scale, electrifying equipment, and using cleaner technologies as it seeks to reduce its emissions associated with process heat in its refining and processing operations.

Clayton Walker, Rio Tinto's Chief Operating Officer for copper, said that such changes would have environmental implications: "We have taken many decarbonization steps, and we have been able to reduce emissions by 80% at Kennecott." He further emphasized that the transition to renewable diesel is a huge step toward the decarbonization goals of Rio Tinto and that the company remains committed to finding sustainable ways to supply essential materials for the global energy transition.

The renewable diesel presently used in Kennecott holds 90% soybean oil. The rest has animal fat and used frying oil combined together into a ratio that produces a fuel-bending combination from fossil dependence. This past 2023, there was another trial involving the use of regular versus renewable diesel compared with another and had run its full cycle successfully through comparable metrics on acceleration, and in comparison, has a fair level of reduced fuel usage. This shift is similarly emulated by Rio Tinto at its boron operation in California, where it switched to renewable diesel as fuel for heavy equipment there from May 2023. With this, Rio Tinto substitutes 11% of global total fossil diesel usage as fuel with renewable diesel across all operations, which is yet another significant step towards sustainability.

The undertaking also impacts on supporting access to low-carbon fuel in Utah. Rio Tinto teamed with US-based refiner HF Sinclair to produce a special supply of renewable diesel at Kennecott. To fill the mine's demand, HF Sinclair had already put aside two storage tanks-one holding 756,000 gallons and the other having 756,000 gallons as well. Steven Ledbetter, Executive Vice President of HF Sinclair, worked to ensure Rio Tinto's success in sustainability; he was hopeful that its success in renewable diesel could replicate into other industries.

It also marks an important milestone that Rio Tinto is on the way to being one of the global leaders in sustainable mining. That can act as an important step for the overall industry, indicating the opportunity that renewable fuels may be in support of heavy industries moving towards a greener model of operations.