The R&D projects complement the industrial demonstration projects already being funded through the Recovery Act.

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the projects represent an unprecedented investment in the development of clean coal technologies that supports the president's goal of cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years.

Chu joined Senator Jay Rockefeller on Wednesday for a forum at the University of Charleston in West Virginia to explain the impact CCS can have and what the US funding means for the development of the technology.

“This is a major step forward in the fight to reduce carbon emissions from industrial plants,” said Chu.

“These new technologies will not only help fight climate change, they will create jobs now and help position the United States to lead the world in clean coal technologies, which will only increase in demand in the years ahead.”

The projects, from four different areas of CCS research and development, are large-scale testing of advanced gasification technologies, advanced turbo-machinery to lower emissions from industrial sources, post-combustion CO2 capture with increased efficiencies and decreased costs and geologic storage site characterization.

The department is awarding $312 million from the Recovery Act for expanding three advanced projects to accelerate the development of industrial carbon capture and storage technologies.

These projects support the department's goal of developing industrial facilities with near-zero emissions by reducing the cost and improving the efficiency of capturing CO2.

The projects will accelerate technology development by conducting tests at large-prototype engineering scales.

Following successful completion, these advanced technologies will be ready for scale-up to commercial size.