Bion Environmental Technologies, the livestock waste treatment technology platform, achieved key objectives in the optimization of its ammonia recovery system (ARS), according to a press release.
Bion will now begin the final design process for full-scale systems at the company’s commercial-scale demonstration facility in Fair Oaks, Indiana.
The ARS produces premium fertilizer products from the volatile ammonia in livestock waste, the release states. Final economic and energy efficiency models will be validated during the final design process, which should be completed in the first quarter of 2024.
Bion will engage an engineering firm to prepare a third-party evaluation of the ARS.
The ARS stabilizes the ammonia with CO2, also from the waste, producing low carbon and organic nitrogen fertilizers. Most of the nitrogen in livestock waste is lost as ammonia – a significant source of air and water pollution worldwide. Value-added nitrogen fertilizers are meant to create new revenues and a way to export excess nitrogen from impaired watersheds to where it can be used.
Several applications to OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) and CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture) are being prepared for listing and certification of new organic products. Bion received an OMRI-Listing in 2020 for its initial product. The company will continue producing liquid and crystal fertilizers to support testing and life-cycle analysis, product trials, and ongoing organic initiatives.
Bion’s patents apply to any organic waste stream where anaerobic digestion is used to produce biogas: any livestock waste; food and food processing waste; municipal wastewater; and others. Recent trends in Michigan and California indicate an evolving regulatory focus on ammonia, nitrates, and animal waste anaerobic digestion.
