Team spirit and determination to climb the world's highest mountain may cause an inventor to give up another peak in his career as the finals of an international competition clash with a vital training expedition.

Engineer Marco Cremona was informed on Friday that his Hoter process - which recycles 80 per cent of waste water - was shortlisted among the top 10 of 200 entries for the Good Entrepreneur Award worth €250,000 in cash, insurance support and airtime.

The award, organised by Allianz insurance and CNBC news agency, seeks to recognise ideas for a product or service to help create a greener future.

While thrilled by the news, Dr Cremona immediately realised he may have to give up his chance to win the prize due to a prior commitment - striving to be among the first Maltese to climb Mount Everest in March.

The award assessment process will be taking place while he and his team mates are on a seven-week expedition in preparation for the Everest climb intended to promote awareness about asthma and better air quality.

"There was a dilemma. However, I knew I could not give up on Everest. It would have been unfair on my colleagues, with who I have been training for the past 18 months, to drop out a few days before we were to set off on this important preparatory climb," he said, adding he planned to write to the organisers to see if something could he arranged.

Dr Cremona is one of the three members of the Challenge 8000 team who tomorrow sets off to break a national altitude record by climbing more than 8,000 metres at Mount Cho Oyu, part of the Himalayans range.

This climb is considered to be almost as technically and physically challenging as Mount Everest, which towers at 8,850 metres.

The problem is the three finalists for the Good Entrepreneur Award will be selected on September 2 and, if Dr Cremona is among them, a CNBC crew would need to come to Malta to interview him and film his project next month - when he will be headed up Cho Oyu. The series will be broadcast across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and in Asia during the autumn of 2009.

According to the competition regulations, he would also have to update a blog until November. But he only returns to Malta in mid-October.

What about postponing the Cho Oyu adventure? Dr Cremona explained this was not possible since lots of preparation had gone into the climb that was essential training for Everest.

Besides, the mountain, which is 30 kilometres west of Everest and situated close to the Nepal and Tibet border, is only open to mountaineers for short periods each year. Postponing would mean missing the time window before the March challenge and disrupting months of training.

Earlier this month Dr Cremona and his team mates Robert Gatt and Gregory Attard spent a night in sub-zero temperatures in a blast freezer to prepare for the Himalayan temperatures.

Dr Cremona added he did not want to disappoint his team on the off-chance that his Hoter project would be selected for the finals.

"I decided to go ahead and will write to the organisers suggesting the filming be completed when I return in October. Of course, I understand the station has a schedule to keep to," he said, adding he was ready to drop out of the competition if he had to.

Dr Cremona's Hoter project has received international acclaim since it was launched last year. In April, it won the national prize in the prestigious Energy Globe 2009 award which rewards sustainable projects from all over the world. In July, Dr Cremona was awarded the Report Terre 2009 award by French national TV station France 5, as the best environmental project in the EU.

Hoter waste water treatment

The Hoter process is based on a two-stage system which produces two types of water: second-class water for the flushing of toilet cisterns and landscaping, and potable water that can be used in showers and wash-hand basins.

This sustainable system, in a pilot stage, provides as much as 80 per cent savings in water consumption by hotels and large commercial buildings. It can also be applied to remote villages where the transportation of water and waste water to a treatment plant is difficult.

In July 2008 a prototype was set up in Għajn Tuffieħa where it has been producing 500 litres per hour of drinking water from sewage pumped from the nearby Radisson Golden Sands Resort and Spa.

The plant performance is being monitored. Water being produced has consistently exceeded drinking water standards.

The project will close in November, by which time a public perception study among hotel guests and hotel owners would have been completed.

The project was part-financed by the Malta Council for Science and Technology. The partners in the project included TTZ Bremerhaven of Germany, the Island Hotels Group and the Environmental Health Unit of the Department of Public Health.