High-performance lead-free petrol pioneer Christopher Maltin is considering proposals for a £20 million AIM flotation for Somerset-based Organic Power. Maltin, who has in the past worked with Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari, set up the company 11 years ago to develop and license a process for biologically converting industrial wastes, food processing residues and agricultural slurries into methane gas, bio-methane fuel gas, carbon dioxide and ‘clean’ fertilisers with no waste products.

The patented Maltin System uses anaerobic digestion to degrade waste materials into high-quality products without pollution. It has already been applied recently to Mercedes cars and performed well in a recent London-to-Brighton car rally. The company, which claims worldwide patents, argues that the Maltin System can create bio-methane fuel for cars and says that recent work with Daimler-Chrysler in Germany led to the limited production of Mercedes seven-seater people carriers, powered either by natural gas or renewable gas from wastes.

Analysts agree that the anaerobic Maltin process has applications producing fuel as a by-product from nutritional products without stopping them being used for food. It is understood that continental European companies have shown interest in buying Organic Power, but analysts argue that a float would unlock more value.

Advisers such as Wessex Ventures are hoping for a float, although Maltin himself voices scepticism about the City’s short-termist approach. ‘They have finally woken up,’ he says. ‘We’ve been struggling for 15 years and now they want to put up £20 million.’

If he takes the plunge, Organic could be worth a flutter.