After successful deals in Japan, Holland Environment Group signed a licence agreement with the Italian Saipem group, part of the ENI-concern. In a pilot project only the Electroremediation techniques proved to be capable of removing mercury pollution from the soil in-situ (without digging up the polluted ground).

A number of Saipem's clients have metal-based mercury pollution in their soil. The groundwater, and as a result the drinking water supply is threatened by this pollution. Next to Holland Environment, a German and an American company were invited to demonstrate their abilities of mercury removal, but only Holland Environment proved successful.

The technique employed is developed in the Netherlands and has been applied successfully here and in Japan on a large scale. With this licence agreement with Saipem these techniques are now available in Italy also.