Bion Environmental Technologies, Inc., who specialise in advanced livestock and organic waste treatment and resource recovery technology, announced it has completed the Technology-Optimisation Report for its Ammonia Recovery System (ARS) at Fair Oaks, IN.
The optimised ARS demonstrated it is stable and can maintain continuous steady-state operations; it is reliable; and it is scalable. The ARS also showed it can achieve its ammonia reduction targets by evaporating one-third less water than was anticipated and modeled. That translates to significantly better economics, including lower fertilizer production costs. The platform is now ready for the final design process of a full-scale commercial system, which is subject to project-specific details, location, and feedstock characteristics. Bion is currently evaluating more than two dozen potential projects, with dozens more in the pipeline.
The Report details over a decade of ARS concept development and technology research and development (R&D), with an emphasis on what was accomplished during the optimisation phase at Fair Oaks. Bion engaged Buflovak, a New York engineering firm, as its ARS development partner, due to their specific expertise in evaporation, distillation, and separation processes. The Buflovak engineering team was integrally involved during six years of ARS (R&D), and testing, including providing guidance during the 18-month optimisation phase at Fair Oaks, and a final review of the Report. The Buflovak engineering team is available to discuss the report and its conclusions.
Economics were not evaluated during optimisation, but the substantial operational improvements that were achieved have a direct impact on modelled system economics and fertilizer production costs. Fair Oaks results indicate operating costs for a full-scale commercial system will be about 25% lower than previously modeled, with a corresponding decrease in fertilizer production costs. Modeled capital cost, either overall or as a function of fertilizer or treatment capacity, will decrease significantly, as well.
Craig Scott, Bion’s CEO, said, “As we have indicated for some time, the ARS has exceeded our expectations. This report details by just how much. To our Chief Technology Officer, Steve Pagano, the rest of the Bion Team, and our engineering partners at Buflovak."
"We are now sorting through and evaluating dozens of potential projects and partners to find the best fit to fill our initial fertilizer offtake agreements. Our goal is to identify a project (or projects) that will allow us to supply our unique organic nitrogen fertilizer to growers during the 2026 growing season.”
Bion Environmental Technologies’ patented Ammonia Recovery System (ARS) produces organic (OMRI Listed) and low-carbon nitrogen fertilizers from the problematic ammonia produced when biogas is generated from animal manure, industrial, and other organic waste streams. Recovering this valuable resource, instead of allowing it to escape to the environment, prevents air and water pollution, produces clean water for reuse or discharge, and improves the economics of livestock and biogas operations. Bion’s platform aligns with global trends toward circular economy models and low-carbon and low-impact fuels and agriculture.