The Tarong research project is looking to reduce carbon emissions from the energy sector.

A PCC pilot plant will be installed at Tarong’s power station, 45 kilometres south of Kingaroy and is designed to capture 1500 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

Earlier this year CO2 was captured in Australia for the first time through the PCC process at Victoria’s Loy Yang coal power station.

The technology is thought to give coal-generated power a lifeline in an increasingly environmentally conscious country with a looming carbon emissions trading scheme.

The two-year Tarong project will start immediately with the pilot plant operational in the first half of 2009.

About 80% of Australian energy is generated from coal-fired power stations.

CSIRO energy transformed national research flagship director John Wright said it was critical to find ways to make coal a cleaner fuel.

“When coupled with CO2 sequestration, post-combustion capture offers the potential for near zero emissions from coal-fired power stations,” Wright said.

The Tarong project will not immediately reduce the emissions but information gathered from its trial will help prepare commercial scale applications of PCC.

Through the PCC process the power station’s flue gas is passed through a chemical solution where 85-95% of the CO2 is captured.

The gas is cooled to a liquid form and transported to a sequestration site.

CSIRO and Tarong Energy will split the costs of the project.

The Tarong venture is part of the Asia Pacific Partnership (APP) on Clean Development and Climate program.

The APP program has trials at other sites including Delta Electricity’s Munmorah power station on the New South Wales coast and Gaobeidian Power station in Beijing.

The Tarong project was welcomed by the Queensland Resources Council, who said Queensland was becoming a low emission power hub, alongside the two other low-emission projects in the state: the Callide oxy-fuel and ZeroGen projects.