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    Pongamia Mania: Mining Giant Rio Tinto Piloting Seed Oil Project in Australia

    Sept. 19, 2024
    Diesel accounts for around 10 percent of our emissions footprint in Australia. The goal is to explore the seeds of the pongamia tree as an oil for renewable diesel.
    Jonathon McCarthy, chief decarbonization officer at Rio Tinto, standing among pongamia trees. Image credit Rio Tinto
    Jonathon McCarthy, chief decarbonization officer at Rio Tinto, standing among pongamia trees. Image credit Rio Tinto

    Mining firm Rio Tinto will explore the means to supply its own biofuel needs of the future by developing a pongamia seed farm for renewable diesel in Australian operations.

    The goal of this pilot project is studying production of seeds from the pongamia tree as an oil for renewable diesel. Rio Tinto is in the final stages of acquiring approximately 3,000 hectares of cleared land near Townsville in north Queensland to establish farms to study growth conditions and measure seed oil yields.

    “Diesel accounts for around 10 percent of our emissions footprint in Australia,” Rio Tinto Chief Decarbonization Officer Jonathon McCarthy (pictured above) said in a statement. “While we continue to pursue electrification as the long-term solution for displacing the majority of our diesel use, the pongamia seed pilot is an important parallel pathway that could reduce our reliance on diesel in the mid-term. It also presents a compelling option for other applications that are challenging to electrify, including blasting and non-haul equipment."

    Biofuel generation is nothing new, but the energy transition is driving a migration toward renewable feedstocks such as canola, food waste, landfill gas and even almonds and pongamia trees.

    Midway Limited is one of Australia’s largest wood fiber processing and export firms. The company is developing a carbon abatement and emissions solutions business.

    While Rio Tinto has partnered with Midway Limited to look after the planting and management of the pongamia seed farms, the latter will engage with nurseries, agricultural experts and research organizations throughout the pilot, and prioritize opportunities for Traditional Owners and local communities.

    Rio Tinto is also researching the use of biofuels in cases where electrification faces practical limitations.

    The pilot is followed by a smaller-scale trial at Rio Tinto Gove operations in the Northern Territory. Pongamia saplings were planted in the region to examine their response to low soil quality, heat and other climatic conditions in northern Australia. Pongamia is a legume tree and the seed oil is high in caloric value of methyl esters useful in biodiesel production.

    Rio Tinto is one of the world’s largest mining companies with production in iron ore, metals, diamonds, uranium, copper, salts and other minerals. Its operations generate close to $55 billion annually.

     

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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