Research into dairy waste treatment system

Related tags Waste management

In the US, Bion Environmental Technologies and the California
Agricultural Technology Institute will work together to assess the
performance of a Bion NMS dairy waste treatment system.

In the US, Bion Environmental Technologies and the California Agricultural Technology Institute (CATI) at California State University, Fresno, have announced that they will work together in a collaborative manner to design, construct, operate, maintain, and evaluate the performance of a Bion NMS dairy waste treatment system at the university's dairy.

The research program is being conducted to provide independent evaluation and verification of the performance of the Bion NMS waste treatment system by CATI researchers. Construction on the project is anticipated to begin in the first calendar quarter, 2003.

Initial project goals include completion of a detailed mass balance assessment of the Bion NMS waste treatment process, including documentation of the fate of nitrogen and phosphorus in the treatment process and quantification of gaseous air emissions from the system. Process monitoring and control parameters will be correlated with operational results to model and predict Bion NMS waste treatment system nutrient removal and air emission performance. On a long-term basis, the Bion NMS waste treatment facility will serve as a day-to-day waste management system for the university's dairy and provide a location for testing various waste handling and treatment equipment.

David Mitchell, Bion's CEO, stated: "We are very pleased that CATI has chosen to partner with Bion to provide waste management for CSU Fresno's dairy. We are confident that CATI's evaluation and verification of the Bion NMS's performance will demonstrate reductions of nutrients and air emissions that are comparable to those produced by our system at the Dream Maker Dairy in New York.

"With the current focus on air and water quality issues, the California dairy industry is facing unique challenges that can potentially be solved by the Bion System. California has over 1.4 million milking cows, making it the leading milk producer in the United States. Independent verification of the Bion NMS should help position the Company to move forward with the commercialisation of its technology, as well as establish baseline measurements and quantify the reductions in air emissions and nutrients -- data that will be required to determine any potential environmental credits that may become available."

Founded in 1989, Bion provides waste management solutions to agriculture, focusing on livestock waste from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), such as large dairy and hog farms. The Bion NMS is a proprietary and patented waste treatment system that remediates animal waste in a manner that is said to be both economical and consistent with existing and proposed environmental regulatory requirements.

Related topics R&D