A meatworks facility in Queensland will soon power itself with wastewater from its own processing floor.

The Oakey Meatworks uses a constant stream of water to wash away leftovers after the fat from cattle is scraped off, which is pumped into ponds outside the building.

In a new trial run in collaboration with researchers at the University of Southern Queensland, bacteria is added to the water to create biogas fuel.

The substance is stored inside a giant bubble-shaped tank for use either on site or elsewhere.

University of Southern Queensland researcher Associate Professor Bernadette McCabe has been on site perfecting the process thanks to a $300,000 State Government grant.

“[It is] is a biological process which turns organic waste into biogas and then the methane-rich gas is then used to supplement gas and boilers,” she told ABC reporters.

“Biogas is in its early stages in Australia so we're helping industries assess the economic feasibility of biogas to help them save money and manage their waste.”

The project could be replicated to add gas production to meatworks around Australia.

To make sure they are getting as much as possible from the wastewater, Professor McCabe’s research team have been testing samples in a small-scale gas plant set up at a Toowoomba laboratory.

“The lab scale studies are one piece of the biogas jigsaw,” she said.

The project is part of $1.2 million worth of Queensland Government biogas production grants issued earlier this year.