Bion Announces Approval of New US Patent

NEW YORK - Bion Environmental Technologies Inc. announced in a press release that it was notified that its US Patent application 11/106,751 entitled “Low Oxygen Biologically Mediated Nutrient Removal” has been approved.

The patent application was made on April 15, 2005; upon publication and issuance, the patent will be officially granted and will remain in force until December 26, 2021.

Bion’s new phosphorus removal patent coverage broadens and deepens the company’s Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio that now includes nine US patents, as well as patents in Canada, New Zealand and Mexico.

Two additional US patents are applied for and pending, and patent applications are under consideration for the European Union, Brazil, Argentina and Australia.

Bion’s patents protect its proprietary technology that uses biological, chemical and mechanical processes to remove nutrients and other harmful substances, as well as extract renewable energy, from high-volume concentrated livestock waste streams. Bion systems provide effective environmental treatment at a substantially lower cost than conventional wastewater treatment plants that rely on expensive highly-oxygenated and chemical processes.

Bion’s environmental management system is the only technology able to provide a comprehensive solution to concentrated livestock waste, through simultaneous removal and stabilization of nutrients and reduction of air emissions including ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, VOC’s, greenhouse gases, odors and other pollutants, together with reductions of pathogens, antibiotics and hormones.

The new patent specifically protects the process’s unique ability to convert and remove phosphorus from the waste stream. Excess nutrients from livestock waste, primarily phosphorus and nitrogen, have been shown to cause serious environmental problems in the US and worldwide. Bion’s technology employs a nutrient removal process driven by the system’s active biology that utilizes and metabolizes the waste stream to convert potential pollutants to benign forms that can then be removed from the effluent discharge stream.

Bion has provided solutions to the agriculture and livestock industry since 1990, with 30 first-generation systems installed through 2003. Bion’s next-generation technology results from 18 years of research & development, testing, commercial deployment, and further adaptation to evolving standards and opportunities.