EXHIBIT 99.1

                                       Contact:
                                       Mr. Christopher 'Arnaud-Taylor
                                       Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
                                       1185 Avenue of the Americas, 20th Floor
                                       New York, New York 10036
                                       (646) 723-4000

          For Immediate Release

                         XETHANOL CORPORATION ANNOUNCES

                         REVERSE MERGER WITH ZEN POTTERY


        MERGER COINCIDES WITH PRIVATE PLACEMENT OF MORE THAN $3.0 MILLION
                                IN COMMON STOCK


         New York, New York, February 2, 2005 - Xethanol Corporation, a leader
in the emerging waste-to-ethanol industry, today announced the closing of a
private placement of more than $3.0 million and the simultaneous stock-for-stock
merger with Zen Pottery Equipment, Inc., a publicly-traded company. The combined
company will now operate under the name Xethanol Corporation and will assume and
execute Xethanol's business plan as its sole business going forward. Xethanol
will retain its senior management team, led by Christopher d'Arnaud-Taylor, its
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Xethanol's shares will be listed on the
Over-the-Counter (OTC) Bulletin Board initially under the trading symbol
ZPYE.OB. Following the closing of the private placement and merger, Xethanol
will have approximately 13.1 million outstanding shares of common stock.

         Today's private placement and merger transaction will enable Xethanol
to expand its capacity and capitalize on favorable market, political,
environmental and pricing trends for ethanol.

         Mr. d'Arnaud-Taylor stated, "The merger with Zen Pottery provides
Xethanol with a public company platform to support future growth through
co-located joint ventures with waste generators and processors and through
acquisitions. The concurrent stock placement also



provides an important new
source of funding for the continued commercialization of Xethanol's advanced
bio-technologies to lower the cost of ethanol production from both corn and
non-corn feedstocks.

         Previously, in January 2005, Xethanol completed a $5.0 million senior
secured royalty income note financing in connection with the purchase and
upgrade of its second ethanol plant in Iowa.

         About Xethanol

         Xethanol is a leader in the emerging waste-to-ethanol industry.
Xethanol's mission is to convert waste that is currently being abandoned or
land-filled into ethanol and other valuable co-products. Xethanol's strategy is
to deploy proprietary bio-technologies that will extract and ferment the sugars
trapped in these waste concentrations with small footprint, low-capital cost and
low-operating cost technology platforms that can rapidly and economically be
deployed to the waste site. Xethanol's value proposition is that it can produce
ethanol and valuable co-products more efficiently than conventional corn-based
ethanol processors, and Xethanol's plants will be located closer to the
ethanol-consuming markets. Xethanol owns and operates two ethanol production
facilities located in Iowa.

         Spencer G. Feldman of law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, represented
Xethanol in the private placement and merger transactions.

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CERTAIN STATEMENTS IN THIS NEWS RELEASE MAY CONTAIN FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
WITHIN THE MEANING OF RULE 175 UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 AND RULE 3B-6
UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AND ARE SUBJECT TO THE SAFE HARBOR
CREATED BY THOSE RULES. ALL STATEMENTS, OTHER THAN STATEMENTS OF FACT, INCLUDED
IN THIS RELEASE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, STATEMENTS REGARDING POTENTIAL
FUTURE PLANS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANIES, ARE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
THAT INVOLVE RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES. THERE CAN BE NO ASSURANCE THAT SUCH
STATEMENTS WILL PROVE TO BE ACCURATE AND ACTUAL RESULTS AND FUTURE EVENTS COULD
DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE ANTICIPATED IN SUCH STATEMENTS. TECHNICAL

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COMPLICATIONS THAT MAY ARISE COULD PREVENT THE PROMPT IMPLEMENTATION OF ANY
STRATEGICALLY SIGNIFICANT PLAN(S) OUTLINED ABOVE. THE COMPANY CAUTIONS THAT
THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE FURTHER QUALIFIED BY OTHER FACTORS
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THOSE SET FORTH IN CURRENT AND PERIODIC REPORTS
AND OTHER DOCUMENTS TO BE FILED BY XETHANOL CORPORATION WITH THE U.S. SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. XETHANOL CORPORATION UNDERTAKES NO OBLIGATION TO
PUBLICLY UPDATE OR REVISE ANY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS, WHETHER AS A RESULT OF
NEW INFORMATION, FUTURE EVENTS, OR OTHERWISE.

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