BioFiltro – BIDA® System

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BioFiltro – BIDA® System

Worm Powered Wastewater Solutions

About the Company:

BioFiltro is an international wastewater filtration company with offices in the United States of America, New Zealand, and Chile. Their mission is to provide filtration systems that repurpose waste streams into valuable revenue streams, recover natural resources, and revitalize the environment in which our clients operate.

About the Solution:

How Does the BIDA® System Work?

The BIDA® System is a bioreactor that utilizes both physical and biological processes to provide secondary treatment. Physical filtration is provided by system medias which also cultivate a rich biomass of bacteria and worms for biological filtration. 

 

Telemetry Monitoring & Control

Using a network of sensors and control panels, BioFiltro remotely tracks system performance and water quality parameters.  Adjustments to system loadings can be made over the cloud to guarantee optimum performance. 

 

Primary Treatment

Solid separators are installed to prevent large solids from reaching the BIDA® System. Captured organic solids are transferred to secondary vermicomposting bins while water flows into an equalization tank where sensors monitor constituents such as pH and flow while bacteria is added as a nutritional supplement.

 

BioFiltration Layers

An automated irrigation system disperses wastewater across the entire surface of the BIDA® System. Gravity pulls the water through layers of wood shavings and river cobble before final discharge. Due to the rapid 4-hour process, the bioreactor is virtually odorless and requires minimum storage capacity. 

 

Earthworms & Microbial Bacteria

BioFiltro inoculates the surface of plant with an industry specific mix of worms and bacteria to achieve maximum reduction efficiencies on parameters such as BOD, TSS, FOG, Total Nitrogen, TDS, Ammonia, and Phosphorus. The burrowing worms create air channels, digest suspended solids, and can achieve densities of 12,000 worms per cubic yard. For seasonal clients, the biomass survives off of the carbon-based wood shavings during the off season. 

 

Sustainable & Natural Byproducts

We enable users to adopt regenerative processes by providing a worm-powered wastewater system which converts waste into clean water, healthy soil, and carbon credits.  In doing so, we create a harmonious relationship between people, planet and profit.  

BioFiltro 2911 E. Barstow Ave, M/S OF 144 Fresno, CA USA 509-527-0526 Visit Company Website

Solution Type

  • Nitrification Denitrification

Vendor

  • Equipment Vendor
  • Project Developer

Product

  • Concentrated Nutrients

Problem

  • GHG
  • Odor
  • Pathogens
  • Phosphorous

To view additional information about this vendor, click below.

Solution Strengths, Weaknesses and Critical Indicators

Nitrification/Denitrification Technologies:

  • No saleable product produced in most systems
  • Vermiculture and some other technologies do produce salable by-products (i.e. worms and worm castings)
  • Traditional and modified forms exist with years of experience treating municipal wastewater
  • Uses large, multiple reaction chambers seeded with both anaerobic and aerobic bacteria
  • Traditional concerns are capital cost, requiring large dedicated tanks and large power consumption for aeration.
  • Proven technology for phosphorous recovery, storage reduction, GHG reduction, odor control and pathogen reduction
  • This technology loses nitrogen as non-reactive nitrogen gas

Newtrient Comments/Opinions:

The BioFiltro system has several dairy related projects worldwide a demonstration project located at Fanelli Dairy Hilmar, California and a full scale system installed at Royal Dairy of Royal City, Washington.

For the demonstration project BioFiltro partnered with Sustainable Conservation to demonstrate the BIDA® System's applicability to the dairy industry.  The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service provided a $483,950 dollar grant to help finance the project and air and water studies executed by the University of California Davis, Denele Analytical Labs, as well as an economic feasibility study by the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo were completed. The project goal was to observe the BIDA® System's potential to protect groundwater from nitrogen overload via its removal efficiency of Total Nitrogen from dairy lagoon water.  

The demonstration system was studied by several universities but the results of these studies are available on the BioFiltro website.

  BioFiltro and the Royal Dairy, of Royal City, WA, received the 2018 U.S. Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability award in recognition of the millions of worms, microbes, and bacteria that dairy farmer Austin Allred has put to work. The 200,000 gallon per day BIDA® System was commissioned in August 2017 and has averaged 75% removal in Total Nitrogen, 85% removal in Total Phosphorus, and 94% removal in Total Suspended Solids from the dairy’s flush water. In April 2020, BioFiltro finished an expansion of the Royal Dairy system to handle the entire flush stream.  

Unlike most nitrification/denitrification processes the BIDA has produced and executed sales of two products, the worm castings as a soil amendment along with an off-take agreement for approximately 30,000 carbon credits annually.
Newtrient will continue to work with BioFiltro to further refine the cost and performance information as more information comes in with additional commercial dairy installations.  

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