Unity Power Alliance Receives U.S. DOE Award of $1 Million to Advance Company's Pressurized Oxy-Combustion Technology

WORCESTER, Mass., Oct. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Unity Power Alliance (UPA), a joint venture between ThermoEnergy Corporation (OTCBB: TMEN) and ITEA, S.p.A., announced today that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has provided final approval on an award of $1 Million to advance the company's  pressurized oxy-combustion technology for clean, coal-fired power generation.

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The Unity Power Alliance (UPA) award team includes ThermoEnergy of Massachusetts, ITEA S.p.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Georgia Tech.  The first key part of UPA's program is a techno-economic modeling optimization to be conducted by MIT. The new Carbon Neutral Energy Solutions (CNES) laboratory at Georgia Tech will host the second major part of the project which is testing ITEA's "flameless" reactor over a wide range of pressures.  The results will then be analyzed in conjunction with the techno-economic modeling conducted by MIT. ThermoEnergy will build the bench-scale testing unit.

"The core of the technology that the UPA will optimize involves a "flameless" combustion system that was developed by ENEL SpA and ITEA and is already successfully operating at a 5MWth plant in Italy," said Unity Power Alliance Managing Director, Robert Marrs. We are confident that the team can achieve even greater efficiencies given the opportunity to test the reactor at a variety of higher pressures within the scope of our combined UPA patents."

After successful completion of the first phase of the program, it is anticipated that a much larger Phase 2 will occur with DOE/NETL awards in the $10-20 million range toward the construction of a pilot scale project.

About Unity Power Alliance
Unity Power Alliance is a joint venture between ThermoEnergy Corporation (OTCBB: TMEN) and ITEA, S.p.A. The Mission of the Unity Power Alliance is to the develop and commercialize POXC™ "pressurized oxy-combustion" as a new, preferred clean combustion platform for repowering existing coal-fired power plants in the USA and building new power plants around the world with near zero air emissions. Unity Power Alliance's strategy is to form alliances with engineering companies, utilities, independent power producers, air separators, service companies, CO2 pipeline companies, transportation companies, and other key industry stakeholders who believe near zero emissions fossil fuel power production is a desirable and achievable near-term goal that will provide maximum benefit to the global environment and economy. Visit www.unitypoweralliance.com

About ThermoEnergy
Founded in 1988, Thermo Energy is a diversified technologies company engaged in the worldwide development, sales and commercialization of patented and/or proprietary  technology for the recovery and recycling of wastewater from oil & gas hydrofracking operations, municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, and power generation technologies. Additional information on the Company and its technologies can be found on its website at www.thermoenergy.com.

About ITEA S.p.A
ITEA S.p.A is an Italian engineering and technology company that has been acquired by Sofinter Group (http://www.sofinter.it/), one of the most dynamic European players providing high technology, energy-recovery solutions. ISOTHERM Pwr  Flameless Oxy-Combustion patented by ITEA produces low-cost energy (steam and electricity) by flexible use of low ranking fuels such as waste, heavy oils, pet coke, and coal, while meeting strict environmental regulations. The ISOTHERM Pwr is a high-yield energy-recovery technology suitable for different fuels end-of-line residues from refinery, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and other process industries.

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SOURCE ThermoEnergy Corporation