Features Regional Regulations
Bion submits revised permit application

March 1, 2010 – Bion
Environmental Technologies, Inc., announced that it has submitted a revised
permit application for its Kreider Farms project to the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) Southcentral Regional Office.
March 1, 2010 – Bion
Environmental Technologies, Inc. , announced that it has submitted a revised
permit application for its Kreider Farms project to the Pennsylvania Department
of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) Southcentral Regional Office.

The revised permit, when
approved, will enable the modification of an existing large concrete manure
storage structure to serve as the bioreactor in the Bion system. The bioreactor
is the part of the system where the livestock waste is first exposed to dense
populations of naturally occurring bacteria whose primary purpose is to quickly
stabilize the nitrogen in the waste to prevent its volatilization as ammonia to
the atmosphere. Bion and others believe that a very substantial amount of the
nitrogen being delivered to the Chesapeake Bay is through volatilization and
subsequent re deposition of livestock waste-derived ammonia, which then becomes
part of the nitrogen load delivered to the Chesapeake Bay through storm water
runoff.

While converting the
existing concrete tank to accommodate the bioreactor system plans, Bion will
complete the final design and submit a full Water Quality Management PART II
permit application for the rest of the proposed wastewater treatment system. Since
the bioreactor will be receiving waste during the construction and installation
of the rest of the system components, this will allow time for the dense
biological populations utilized by Bion’s patented waste treatment process to
develop, saving two to three months of startup time.

During its first 12 months
of operation, Bion’s Kreider Farm installation will be subject to intense
scrutiny of all aspects of the system’s operation: nitrogen and phosphorus
removal, reductions of ammonia through its conversion to inert nitrogen gas,
greenhouse and other gas emissions, and pathogen reductions. Ultimately, the
data derived through the independent sampling and testing that will be
conducted at Kreider will replace assumptions made in the modeling of the system
for the purposes of nutrient credit verification.