The Cooperative Research Centre for Coal in Sustainable Development (CCSD) and its research participant CSIRO Energy Technology completed the $1 million coal gasification trial program at a test facility in Freiberg, Germany.

The trials included coal samples from Western Australia, Queensland, and NSW.

Coal gasification is one of the three principal technologies for producing energy from coal that allows the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.

Instead of burning coal to produce heat and make steam, gasification produces hydrogen gas and pure CO2 - the hydrogen can then be used to produce electricity, while the CO2 could be buried using geosequestration.

Frank van Schagen, CEO of the CCSD, said Australia has a range of coal that is highly suitable for new greenhouse-friendly power generation technologies and this trial will help the coal industry tap into the potential low emissions market.

"The research is an important step in building our understanding of how - and which - Australian coals are most suitable for the new clean energy technologies, and how they perform in those technologies. It allows us to select the coals which are best to use in the new technologies," he said.

The program was funded by coal and power generation companies including Xstrata Coal, Delta Electricity, and Verve Electricity.

Dr Noel Simenton, CCSD manager of technology transfer, said the involvement of these companies in funding the project was encouraging and recognises the importance they place on developing clean coal technologies.