A NOTTS technology company is set for significant growth after developing equipment which turns waste food into energy.

Monsal, which is based at Mansfield, has invested heavily in developing a processing plant which takes waste food and digests it into biogas.

It has just won a major deal with a subsidiary of utility giant Wessex Water and a plant has been established at Avonmouth near Bristol.

The firm, which now has a turnover around the £10 million mark, expects to see other contracts follow now that its technology is established and plants are up and running.

Monsal is based on the Ransom Wood Business Park just outside Mansfield, where it employs a team of just under 30 staff headed by managing director Aidan Cumiskey.

He is part of a management team – which also includes technical director Dorian Harrison, sales director Nicholas Capon and finance director Andy Styan – which took control of the business through a buy-out in 2007.

It has been backed during its technology development phase with private equity investment from Matrix and Four Winds Capital Management.

The food waste anaerobic digestion technology has been developed to capitalise on an energy market which pays significant subsidies for power generated through renewable means.

While conventional energy generation can earn around £40 per megawatt, subsidies available to help the UK meet its renewable energy obligations can more than triple the figure for biogas.

Monsal has already built a plant in Scotland to establish the technology, and now looks set to double turnover in the coming years as it makes the most of a market-leading position.

Mr Cumiskey said: "We have invested heavily in developing our technology over the past few years and this has put us into a position where we are leading the market.

"The subsidies are fixed, and we expect to see sustained growth until at least 2020."

Monsal will be looking to recruit more mechanical, electrical, process and control engineers as it expands to meet rising demand.

"This is a sector which is taking off now and it provides us with a solid platform for growth," said Mr Cumiskey. "There will also be opportunities abroad but we are firmly focused on the UK market for the forseeable future."

The food waste processing facility which Monsal has developed at Avonmouth has been constructed for GENeco, a subsidiary of Wessex Water.

It will take solid and liquid food waste from supermarkets, councils, hospitals, food firms and waste management companies and transform it into waste energy and a nutrient-rich fertiliser.

GENeco attracted international interest when it demonstrated the potential of the waste energy by converting a VW Beetle into a "poo-powered" car.

But the main market will be domestic, with the Avonmouth plant supplying the energy needs of around 3,000 homes.