Bion Environmental Technologies Inc., a leader in advanced livestock waste treatment technology and premium sustainable beef, announced the Ammonia Recovery System at its Fair Oaks commercial scale demonstration facility has achieved and maintained controlled steady-state operations under a variety of conditions. When at a steady state, the system produces an ammonium distillate (solution), the base of Bion’s nitrogen fertilizer products.
Bion has begun optimizing the system’s operating parameters so that it will meet or exceed Bion’s economic models for large-scale commercial projects. Bion anticipates at least four to eight weeks for optimization, after which the final design for commercial projects can begin.
The patented Ammonia Recovery System (ARS) is the core of Bion’s Gen3Tech platform. The ARS recovers and upcycles problem ammonia from the digestate, the effluent from anaerobic digestion, where methane is captured (and more ammonia is released) from the manure stream. The ARS captures the ammonia, minimizing its environmental impacts and creating low-carbon and organic nitrogen fertilizer products with it. In the next few weeks, Bion intends to produce ammonium distillate at Fair Oaks in several concentrations and apply for organic certification for each.
Bion will also produce a solid/granular water-soluble nitrogen product that is Climate-Smart and Water-Smart – a pure nitrogen fertilizer with a low carbon footprint, that is water soluble and readily available to plants and can be easily shipped from where it is not needed or wanted, to where it is. Bion has applied to several state agencies to certify the granular product for use in organic production.
“We are very pleased with system performance at Fair Oaks, and to be back in control of our timelines,” said Bill O’Neill, chief executive officer of Bion. “Over the next few weeks, we will conduct demonstration tours with key stakeholders in the beef industry, potential partners in distribution, banking, and project finance, and others as we establish the strategic relationships needed to develop commercial projects.
He continued: “Today, many are focused on climate impacts, but we believe the larger issue with livestock is ammonia and nitrates, which are of increasing concern in the U.S., especially in California and Washington. In the EU, a nitrogen cap has already led to social and political unrest in Ireland and the Netherlands – a cautionary tale for us. We think the value of Bion’s ability to upcycle and redirect that ammonia, so that its nitrogen can be used where and when it is needed, cannot be overemphasized.”
Bion’s patented Gen3Tech platform minimizes environmental impacts from large-scale livestock production, increases resource efficiencies by upcycling byproducts and renewable energy and delivers a verified sustainable protein product. Bion is focused on developing state-of-the-art sustainable cattle feeding operations that will produce premium sustainable beef, with a USDA-certified brand.
