Bion Environmental Technologies Inc., New York City, a developer of livestock waste treatment technology, recently announced that it has executed a lease for a site near Fair Oaks, Ind., where it will develop a sustainable and/or organic grain-finished beef production facility that will include its first third-generation waste treatment technology (3G Tech) platform at commercial scale, which will produce fertilizer.
The facility will be designed to feed approximately 300 head of beef cattle in state-of-the-art covered barns that can be re-configured to house swine when appropriate. Bion’s 3G-Tech system will be sized with the capacity to treat the waste from approximately 1,500 head – large enough to demonstrate engineering commercial scale, but small enough that it can be constructed and commissioned quickly. Bion anticipates startup sometime in the Spring of 2022.
Bion said the facility will demonstrate scalability and determine biogas and nitrogen recovery efficiencies at scale. The facility is anticipated to produce sufficient ammonium bicarbonate for both commercial testing by potential joint venture partners and university growth trials. The platform will generate operating data to support certification requirements for various private and regulatory agencies, such as USDA’s Process Verified Program (PVP) for a USDA-certified sustainable brand. The facility will also produce sustainable beef products – conventional and organic – for initial test-marketing efforts.