EET Installs Prototype Spent Engine Coolant Recycling System in Japan.

Business Editors & Environmental Writers

OKINAWA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2002

Knoxville, Tennessee-based EET Corporation (www.eetcorp.com) has installed a prototype spent engine coolant (antifreeze) recycling system, on the island of Okinawa. The system, which incorporates EET's patent-pending high efficiency electrodialysis (HEED(TM)) technology, was installed on behalf of Japan-based Nichibei Koyu Company, LTD. Initially, Nichibei will use EET's technology to recycle antifreeze for United States military operations in Japan, and then for commercial sector enterprises throughout Japan.

According to EET's market research, there is currently no capability to effectively recycle antifreeze in Japan. The commercial price for concentrated antifreeze is $15 per gallon in Japan, compared to $4 to $5 per gallon in the United States. This makes recycling spent engine coolant particularly economically attractive in Japan.

"With the quantum advances EET has made in electrodialysis and antifreeze recycling arenas with HEED(TM), USA-based recyclers can get an excellent return on investment by using EET's coolant recycling system, at USA retail prices for concentrated antifreeze of $4 per gallon. At a price of $15 per gallon for antifreeze in Japan, the return on investment is spectacular," says Louie Sferrazza, EET's President and co-founder. "When you add the fact that Nichibei has zero competition in Japan from other recyclers, it's destined to be a slam dunk from the other side of the court for Nichibei."

EET's HEED(TM) technology removes a variety of ionic species from liquids, a process called deionization or desalting. Preliminary test data demonstrates that HEED(TM) has lower capital costs and lower operating costs, and its ion removal effectiveness is more than 10 times as low a concentration as has been previously attainable using conventional electrodialysis systems.

EET has targeted numerous potential applications for the HEED(TM) technology, including desalinating sea or brackish waters, antifreeze and thermal transfer fluid recycling, treating wastewater from oil and natural gas production, reusing industrial laundry wastewater, in-situ recycling of Triethylene Glycol at natural gas wells, pre-treating for the production of ultra-pure water, and treating nuclear wastewater.

Desalination of sea or brackish water is an application that could have a significant impact on quality of life worldwide. "About one billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water," said Ernst Schmidt, Director of EET's Liquid Technology and Services business area. "We believe EET's HEED(TM) technology will revolutionize the production of drinking water from salt and brackish waters.

"What will drive the shift is purely economics: we expect HEED(TM) to be the least expensive technology alternative for removing salt from water. We also expect that HEED(TM) will have a major impact on recycling antifreeze, and we will see a movement from large centralized recycling facilities for antifreeze to smaller, on-site HEED(TM) systems because economics will drive the market that way."

EET's HEED(TM) technology is easily scalable because performance characteristics are independent of the size of the system. This technology is appropriate for small applications such as providing drinking water from salt water for a small hotel to large-scale applications, such as providing drinking water for a city.

EET has been developing and commercializing waste treatment and recycling technologies since its inception in 1990, and has been developing electrodialysis technology for the last three years. The idea for the patent-pending HEED(TM) technology came to Sferrazza while he and Schmidt were waterskiing last summer.

EET provides environmental technologies and services. In 1997, it ranked as the 222nd fastest growing privately held company in the nation, according to the Inc. 500 listing. Next month, it will receive an Administrator's Award of Excellence from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Nichibei Koyu Company, LTD is a large Japanese conglomerate that has been serving its customers for 111 years.