Pennsylvania producer adopts new waste technology

Dairy Foods, Nov, 2008

Kreider Farms, one of Pennsylvania's largest dairy farms, has announced a joint venture with Bion Environmental Technologies, Inc., to build a multi-million dollar livestock waste treatment system at Kreider's Farm in Manheim, Pa.

The system is also classified as a Cleantech operation meaning that it is approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) to generate approximately 140 nutrient credits per milk cow's waste treated. These credits will be sold by Bion via PA DEP's Nutrient Crediting Trading website.

It will be designed to dispose of the dairy manure from the farms' 2,000 dairy cows and poultry facilities in an eco-friendly manner.

Bion's core technology is a biological process that facilitates the growth of large populations of naturally-occurring bacteria that are responsible for the conversion of the nitrogen and phosphorus in the waste stream. Some of the nitrogen is released to the atmosphere in the form of harmless and inert nitrogen gas (N2). Most of the remaining nitrogen, as well as phosphorus, is converted by the bacteria into solid or particulate forms that are removable by centrifuge and other processes.