Clean Diesel Technologies Receives EPA Tier 1 Registration for Bimetallic Diesel Fuel Combustion Catalyst And U.S. Patent for Bimetallic With Diesel Particulate Filter.

Business Editors and Automotive Writers

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2000

Test Data Confirm Reductions of Up to 95% in

Diesel Particulate Emissions

Clean Diesel Technologies Inc. (EBB:CDTI) Thursday announced that it had received registration from the U.S. EPA for its Platinum Plus(R) bimetallic diesel fuel combustion catalyst.

Registration is required for a fuel additive to be sold commercially for highway-use diesel fuel. Over 25 billion gallons per year of diesel fuel are used in on-highway applications in the U.S. with more than 150 billion gallons per year consumed worldwide.

The company also announced that it has been granted U.S. Patent No. 6,003,303, which covers the use of the platinum/cerium bimetallic and other platinum-based bimetallic formulations with a diesel particulate filter.

Platinum Plus products are currently available directly from CDT and the company is negotiating marketing and distribution arrangements with fuel-oil marketers and additive companies.

According to CDT Chief Operating Officer James Valentine, the newest patent is the thirteenth in a series covering the company's fundamental platinum-based fuel catalyst technology.

"We see a strong opportunity for worldwide application of the Platinum Plus product line to the existing fleet of diesel vehicles for both fuel economy and emissions reduction," he said. "The ability to apply the technology with current fuel sulfur levels means emissions reductions can be achieved today, with further improvements arising as fuel sulfur content is reduced in the future.

"The company expects its slightly higher concentration 'emission reduction' product to cost end-users between five to seven cents per gallon of fuel treated," Valentine said, "with that cost expected to be offset in whole or in part by fuel economy improvements. A lower-concentration 'performance' product is expected to cost about four to five cents per gallon of fuel treated, accounting for roughly one-half of the total savings expected from fuel economy improvement."

Platinum Plus harnesses the synergy of platinum and cerium as a fuel borne catalyst which is used at ultra low dose levels in fuel to improve the rate and completeness of combustion in the engine. This leads to both improved fuel economy and reduced emissions.

The product also improves the emission reduction performance of diesel aftertreatment devices such as diesel oxidation catalyst and diesel particulate filters and does not require the use of low sulfur diesel fuel.

Extensive testing demonstrates that Platinum Plus can reduce particulate emissions by up to 25 percent, while improving fuel economy an average of six percent. Together with a diesel oxidation catalyst, particulate reductions of more than 50 percent have been measured.

Particulate reductions of more than 95 percent have been achieved using the Platinum Plus product in conjunction with a Corning EX-80 diesel particulate filter, while nitrogen oxide emissions were simultaneously reduced by 40 percent using exhaust gas recirculation.

"Based on our calculations," Valentine said, "to treat every gallon of on-highway diesel fuel consumed in the U.S. would require about eight percent of the annual worldwide platinum production. Tests have confirmed that only one to five percent of the platinum used is emitted, which is roughly equivalent to platinum attrition from automobile catalytic converters and millions of times below workplace standards for platinum."

He pointed out that, to put the emission reduction potential in perspective, independent test data showed that the Platinum Plus fuel-borne catalyst and a diesel particulate filter reduced more than 80,000 ug/bhp-hr of diesel particulates while emitting only six ug/bhp-hr of the platinum/cerium bimetallic.

Clean Diesel Technologies is a development-stage company with patent-protected products that reduce emissions from diesel engines while simultaneously improving fuel economy and power. R&D efforts and products are grouped into two categories: Platinum Plus fuel catalysts and NOx Reduction Systems. Platinum Plus is a registered trademark of Clean Diesel Technologies.

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking statement" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known or unknown risks, including those detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.