— — The federal government has named a Town of Tonawanda plant as one of nearly two-dozen projects around the country that will receive stimulus money to advance the nation’s clean coal technology.

Praxair has been awarded $35 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Tuesday.

Funded by more than $575 million from the stimulus package, the Energy Department selected 22 projects in 15 states to boost industrial carbon capture and storage research and development, which the government says will help position the U.S. as a leader in the global clean energy race.

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

Carbon capture is a process in which the carbon dioxide gas emitted from power plants and other industrial facilities is stripped from fossil fuels and isolated deep within the earth, preventing the release of carbon dioxide — one of the leading causes of global warming — into the atmosphere.

The projects selected Tuesday include four different areas of carbon capture and storage research and development. Praxair received funding to expand its innovative Oxygen Transport Membrane module, which allows for high efficiency carbon dioxide capture from coal power plants, according to a paper Tonawanda-based Praxair researchers presented to the U.S. Energy Department.

Ultimately, this reduces the cost of producing oxygen in industrial applications by approximately 75 percent, the Energy Department reports.

Funding for the 22 projects selected ranged from $5 million to a high of $168.8 million for North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park to develop a cleanup system to remove contaminants from coal synthesis gas.

One other New York facility was listed among the awards. GE Energy in Schenectady received $31.3 million for advanced hydrogen turbine development for industrial applications.

President Barack Obama wants a cost-effective deployment of carbon capture and storage within 10 years — despite questions about the technology and skepticism about its feasibility. He created a task force this year charged with coming up with a plan to overcome barriers to such deployment.

One issue identified by the task force was liability, because a sudden release of large amounts of carbon dioxide can kill by asphyxiation. The task force called for several options to be considered: maintaining the current legal framework; putting limits on claims; establishing an industry-financed trust fund to pay damages after a site is closed; or transferring of liability to the federal government following a site closure, under certain conditions.

Praxair’s world headquarters is based in Danbury, Conn. Company officials could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.