€2m Bord na Móna systems for Italy, UK

STATE COMPANY Bord na Móna is supplying €2 million worth of air filtering systems to clients in Italy and Britain, and hopes to win a similar deal in France shortly.

Bord na Móna has been developing biological systems for air filters designed to cut the odours given off by waste treatment and industrial plants. The company has been selling the technology in Ireland and Europe since the 1990s. It recently won a deal worth €1.2 million to supply systems for four waste treatment plants that handle most of the refuse processed by Rome's municipal authorities.

According to Ian Phillips, manager of air and water solutions at the State company, Bord na Móna's partner in the project is Airclean, which is supplying the filters to the processing plants.

Mr Phillips said yesterday the sale of each of the systems is worth between €200,000 and €300,000 to the company.

It has also won a contract from British Steel worth more than €750,000 to provide air-cleaning systems for solvent emissions from the company's painting plants.

Bord na Móna is in talks with authorities in Paris to sell its technology to the city's waste-water treatment plant at Achers, which is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe. Mr Phillips said last night the company was hopeful it could land the Paris contract even though the French market could be difficult to break into.

Bord na Móna has developed two technologies for biological treatment. One uses crushed peat allied with a biological agent to break down the chemicals responsible for producing smells. The other uses sea shells to neutralise sulphur, responsible for smells that escape from waste water and industrial facilities.

Bad odours are the biggest cause of complaints from the public that are directed at waste treatment and industrial plants.

Bord na Móna is spending €1.4 billion over the next five years on shifting focus from managing the Republic's peat bogs to new activities. It plans to move into alternative energy generation and developing waste-management technology and systems.