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China Grants Patent for ThermoEnergy’s TIPS Clean Coal Process
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
TIPS is a cost-effective new zero air emission power plant design that includes carbon capture (CO2)
Little Rock, AR -- ThermoEnergy Corporation announced today that the Chinese Patent Office recently granted the patent for the Company's new zero air emission, carbon capture technology known as the ThermoEnergy Integrated Power System, or "TIPS" process. TIPS burns carbonaceous fuels, including coal, oil, natural gas or biomass, to make steam and power without air emissions. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and water produced in the combustion process are captured for sequestration or beneficial reuse. TIPS represents a totally different thermodynamic approach in power plant design that will allow greater process efficiencies and economic performance as well as eliminating greenhouse gas emissions.
The Chinese patent is the sixth TIPS foreign patent to be granted, along with two US patents already issued. The Company has approximately 31 foreign patents still pending. "China represents the one of the Company's four key strategic markets for our TIPS clean energy process," said Dennis C. Cossey, CEO of ThermoEnergy Corporation, "the other markets are the US, Russia and India. The Russian patent issued earlier this year and we expect the Indian patent to issue in due course." Concurrent with the TIPS technology development effort, the Company has engaged in preliminary discussions with potential joint venture partners already operating in these key markets. In addition, the Company is also talking to the US Department of Commerce concerning the possibility of joining their upcoming 'Clean Energy' trade mission to China and India.
"Now that the TIPS patent has been granted in China, the Company can begin to fully implement its China strategy," said Alex Fassbender, EVP and Chief Technology Officer for ThermoEnergy. "Up until now, we have been forced to adopt a very cautionary stance as far as engaging in transactional negotiations with potential Chinese partners," added Fassbender.
Aided by three US Government grants totaling $2.5M, the Company plans to complete Phase 1 development, which is extensive thermodynamic modeling, by the first quarter of 2008. Phase 2 is the design, construction and operation of a large-scale, stand alone prototype TIPS facility to be sited at an existing industrial or utility host site. "Whether this site will be in the US, Canada or other 'off shore' locations has yet to be determined," said Cossey. "This decision will be made over the next 6 months by the TIPS development team that the Company is currently assembling for this venture."
About ThermoEnergy
ThermoEnergy, along with its subsidiary company CASTion Corporation, is an award winning company, with offices in Arkansas, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio and California. The Company provides customized turnkey systems for the treatment and processing of municipal and industrial wastewater, chemical recovery, water conservation, and renewable energy. The Company offers a comprehensive range of products and services including vacuum distillation, evaporators, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, oil/water separators, water use reduction, hydrothermal processing and related water management services. In addition, the Company is developing an advanced power plant design that combusts fossil fuels and biomass with zero air emissions and carbon capture capability. The Company's customer base includes municipal, military, power generation, mining, food processing, beverage, automotive, chemical process, refining, micro-electronics, heavy manufacturing, textile and semi-conductor industries; with successful process installations in the US, Japan, Canada and Mexico. Its client list includes many Fortune 100 companies. Additional information on ThermoEnergy and its CASTion subsidiary can be found on the following websites: www.thermoenergy.com and www.castion.com.
This press release includes statements that may constitute "Forward Looking" statements, usually containing but not limited to words such as "Believe," "Estimate," "Project," "Expect" or similar expressions. Forward Looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Forward Looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to continued acceptance of the Company's products or services in the marketplace, competitive factors, changes in regulatory environments and other risks detailed in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By making these Forward Looking statements, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes.
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