Abtech Holdings Strengthens Management Team Adding Commercially Successful Technology Expert as CTO

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Abtech Holdings, Inc. (OTC QB: ABHD) ("AbTech" or the "Company"), today announced that it has appointed Upen Bharwada, a senior executive known globally in the water and waste water industries with notable expertise in liquid separation technologies, as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Mr. Bharwada is recognized for early development through accelerated commercialization and growth of four liquid separation technologies.  The products and technologies developed and commercialized by the teams he led have generated a cumulative $1.2 billion in direct revenue and created a demand of $3 billion cumulative for adjacent space products, systems, chemicals and engineering services over the last 25 years. Mr. Bharwada was with the DOW Chemical Company for 18 years in positions of successively complex technical and business responsibilities, including Vice President of Research and Development and as a member of the FilmTec Corporation board of directors.  He served as Vice President of Manufacturing and Research Development, as well as Vice President of the Asia Pacific and ANZ Business Unit for ZENON Environmental Inc., now a part of GE Water. Mr. Bharwada also served as President and Chief Operating Officer at Hydranautics (a Nitto Group company) and was a Business Operations Executive for the Filters and Membranes P&L of GE Water and Process Technologies. He joined Hydration Technology Innovations as an Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in 2011 to assist in the development and commercialization of Forward Osmosis technology. Mr. Bharwada has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Institute of Technology at Banaras Hindu University (affiliated with Indian Institute of Technology), a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago), and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from University of Cincinnati.

Mr. Bharwada commented, "One of the most noteworthy and significant changes I have seen in the past five years is the vocabulary of water and waste water.  It used to be chemistry centric and now it is peppered with terms like bio-fouling, biological oxygen demand, membrane bioreactor, chemotropic bacteria, etc.  There now exists a dichotomy between the intrinsic properties of thin film composite polyamide (TFC PA) membranes and the biology of waste water, as one example.  Having studied the Smart Sponge® Plus technology with its non-leaching antimicrobial activity and potential ability related to reducing Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, a key bacteria in bio-fouling of membranes, I believe that there is an untapped value as a pretreatment to the more than 15 million thin film TFC PA membranes in use globally.  Protecting the investment in membranes is important both from a capital expense and operating expense perspective." 

Mr. Bharwada has currently committed to investing 40% of his time to the CTO role, which may expand as his other commitments are completed. Previously, Mr. Bharwada served on AbTech's advisory board from June 2, 2014 until his appointment. 

Commenting on Mr. Bharwada's transition to CTO, Glenn Rink, Abtech's CEO, said, "Credibility, brilliance, passion, results oriented – that is how I describe Upen.  It is these traits that allowed him to successfully launch and commercialize technology into new markets.  His efforts will directly enhance AbTech's presence in industrial and commercial applications for its Smart Sponge® technology."

ABOUT ABTECH HOLDINGS, INC. (OTC QB: ABHD) AND ABTECH INDUSTRIES, INC.

AbTech Industries, Inc. (a subsidiary of Abtech Holdings Inc.) is a full-service environmental technologies and engineering firm dedicated to providing innovative solutions to communities, industry and governments addressing issues of water pollution and contamination. Its products are based on polymer technologies capable of removing hydrocarbons, sediment and other foreign elements in stormwater runoff (ponds, lakes and marinas), flowing water (curbside drains, pipe outflows, rivers and oceans), and industrial process and wastewater. AbTech's offerings include the ground-breaking new antimicrobial technology called Smart Sponge® Plus. This technology is effective in reducing coliform bacteria found in stormwater, industrial wastewater, and municipal wastewater. Smart Sponge® Plus is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (Registration #86256-1). AbTech's teams of water treatment technology experts, civil and environmental engineers, and field operations specialists develop solutions to improve the quality of our limited water resources. AEWS Engineering (a subsidiary of Abtech Holdings, Inc.), is an independent engineering civil and environmental engineering firm partnered with top research and engineering universities. By focusing on bringing new engineering and technology innovation to the water infrastructure sector, AEWS is positioned to be at the forefront of stormwater Best Management Practices development and to deliver the latest in design excellence to its customers. For more information please visit www.abtechindustries.com. More information on AEWS Engineering can be found at www.aewsengineering.com.

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" which are not purely historical and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the development, costs and results of new business opportunities. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Abtech Holdings, Inc.

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