ThermoEnergy Announces Clean Energy Technology Patented.

Business Editors

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2001

ThermoEnergy Corporation (OTCBB:TMEN) announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has allowed all 27 broad claims for the Company's new clean energy process called ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System, or TIPS. TIPS represents a new approach to the production of electricity that eliminates the emissions of acid gases, atmospheric particulates and Mercury. TIPS changes the combustion process and tweaks the Rankine cycle to enable the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) as a liquid for sequestration or beneficial reuse. TIPS utilizes a diverse mix of energy resources for power including coal, gas, oil, biomass and "opportunity resource fuels." TIPS provides the potential for a low-cost, stable energy supply since it would allow energy producers to continue to use cheap and plentiful fuel sources, such as coal, and still meet all current or proposed Federal and State clean air regulations.

TIPS combines known physics with proven process operations in a totally new way. It can be deployed in a variety of ways, including building new power plants, retrofitting existing power plants, or in conjunction with coal-gasification power plants to increase process efficiency, recover produced CO2, and achieve 'hot gas' cleanup. TIPS can be used as an efficient hydrogen generation technology, supplying hydrogen for fuel cells and other similar clean energy technologies. Once implemented, TIPS can play a key role in assisting industrial and developing countries to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

TIPS is able to achieve this advanced level of power generation by taking advantage of heat transfer, mass transfer and liquid vapor equilibrium regimes that are unavailable to conventional fossil-fuel burning technologies. TIPS utilizes the phenomenon of nucleate condensation in parallel with the liquid vapor equilibrium of both water and CO2 to achieve complete particulate capture. When fully commercialized, it is anticipated that TIPS will incorporate several other new technologies currently under development, including an advanced pulverized coal combustion system and a new air separation plant.

The nucleate condensation physics works extremely well with very tiny particles and is so rapid and efficient that it suggests that the TIPS process will be less costly than current atmospheric or low-pressure systems with comparable emmissions performance. This is especially true of those plants using coal as the primary source of power. "This aspect of the technology will enable it to play a key role in stabilizing long-term energy costs in the United States," says Dennis Cossey, Chairman and CEO of ThermoEnergy. Coal remains the lowest cost and most abundant source of energy. Coal accounts for over half the U.S. annual energy production and represents 95% of the Country's energy reserves. "It could be argued that cheap energy, based on the use of coal, played a primary role in the economic boom this Country enjoyed over the past ten years," adds Cossey. "By eliminating the environmental problems associated with burning coal to produce energy, the U.S. can take full advantage of its abundant, low-cost energy resources while allowing researchers to re-focus their efforts on developing renewable energy technologies for the future."

For the past two years, Alex Fassbender, P.E., EVP of ThermoEnergy and inventor of the TIPS process, has been working with scientists and engineers at an international engineering firm and the U.S. Department of Energy to produce a preliminary process configuration and design schematic for a TIPS power production facility. This effort has progressed very quickly due to the fact that every unit operation of the TIPS system is comprised of proven process methods being used daily by industry around the world. ThermoEnergy engineers combined these process operations in a proprietary design resulting in TIPS' remarkable performance potential. Management expects to be able to complete the work necessary for a large-scale pilot design within the next sixteen to eighteen months. The next step would be to engineer, build and operate a large-scale TIPS power production facility either in the U.S. or abroad.

Note to Editors:

ThermoEnergy is an integrated technologies company engaged in the commercialization of patented and/or proprietary municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and power production technologies. Additional information on the Company and its technologies can be found on its web site at www.thermoenergy.com.