TerraTherm Royalty Payments to The University of Texas at Austin Top $1 Million for Licensing of ISTD Environmental Cleanup Technology, Research Programs Supported

FITCHBURG, MA--(Marketwire - June 25, 2009) - TerraTherm, Inc. and The University of Texas at Austin have today announced that royalties from licensing agreements for In Situ Thermal Desorption (ISTD) technology have exceeded the million dollar mark as widespread adoption of thermal remediation methods begins to reshape the environmental cleanup marketplace. Adoption of ISTD has grown rapidly in recent years due to its advantages for effective cleanup of a wide variety of contaminants, geological settings, and locations, setting the stage for increased royalties that fund research and educational programs at the University.

ISTD, which simultaneously applies heat and vacuum to remove subsurface soil contaminants without excavation, was originally developed by Shell Oil Company. They donated the technology and the original patents to The University of Texas at Austin in 2000. The University in turn licensed the technology to TerraTherm, Inc., which has significantly advanced the state of the art, and successfully applied ISTD commercially. In a number of cases, the use of ISTD at difficult-to-treat sites has produced unprecedented results, leading to site closure with letters of No Further Action issued by regulatory agencies.

On hand to celebrate the million-dollar milestone, and an exciting future for the technology, were Juan Sanchez, the University's Vice President for Research, Ralph Baker, CEO of TerraTherm, Gary Pope, Director of UT's Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Research, and George Stegemeier, President GLS Engineering, Inc., representing Shell.

"The TerraTherm-University of Texas at Austin relationship has paid dividends, not only in monetary terms, but in continuing our leadership role in environmental engineering, research and cleanup-related education," said Sanchez.

"Graduate students' R&D topics related to ISTD have been funded by these royalties and several University faculty have been involved in supervision of these students, including Lynn Katz, Russell Johns, and Sanjay Srinivasan," added Dr. Pope.

Dr. Pope was among the first at The University of Texas at Austin (UT) to work with Shell's ISTD technology co-inventors, Dr. Harold Vinegar and Dr. George Stegemeier. Dr. Stegemeier, who earned his Ph.D. in petroleum engineering in 1959 at the University commented, "Shell contributed to UT Austin, not only a useful technology, but also a source of funding for ongoing environmental research and study among the faculty and students at UT. It is fortunate that UT selected TerraTherm, Inc. since, as the licensee, their success has led to the acceptance of a highly efficient environmental process for cleaning contaminated sites. To see that promise fulfilled and to see the potential of continuing research programs at UT Austin is very rewarding indeed."

TerraTherm, Inc., which has been recognized with numerous awards for its ISTD projects, has benefited from an active and stimulating relationship with The University of Texas at Austin. "This continues to be a great relationship, providing research that has helped us to demonstrate applicability, put new methods into production, and continuously reduced costs of ISTD. The fact that we have had so much success and been able to empower researchers at the University at the same time is a classic win-win outcome. And this is only the beginning. There are many more opportunities to come for TerraTherm and The University of Texas at Austin," observed Ralph Baker, CEO of TerraTherm, Inc.

About TerraTherm

TerraTherm, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the development and implementation of in situ thermal remediation of source zones and hazardous waste. They design, build and operate projects from concept to closure, using In Situ Thermal Desorption (ISTD), Steam Enhanced Extraction (SEE) and the Electro-Thermal Dynamic Stripping Process (ET-DSP™). With offices in Fitchburg, MA, Keene, CA, and Atlanta, GA, and licensees such as Kruger A/S (Denmark and Sweden), Provectus Group (UK), and SheGoTec (Japan), they offer services worldwide. For more information, visit www.terratherm.com.

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