Residual biomasses are generated from various sources, including households and farms. “Residual” here means the biomass is currently considered a waste stream that is landfilled or an underutilized resource. They can be a valuable resource for bioenergy and biobased products. This inventory aims to provide project developers and planners with reliable estimates of biomasses currently available across North Carolina for utilization in energy and bioprocessing projects. The inventory provides a county-by-county summary of residual biomass and is categorized by source. The categories assessed in this inventory are listed below:

• Crop Residue: this residual biomass consists of stems, leaves and above-ground residue of key crops including soybean, corn, wheat, and cotton.
• Animal Residue: this residual biomass consists of manures generated by key animal species in North Carolina, such as pigs, poultry, and cattle.
• Forestry Residue: this residual biomass consists primarily of logging residue available at logging sites.
• Organic Municipal Solid Waste (OMSW) Residue: this residual biomass consists of organic residues generated from households, institutions and industrial facilities. It includes food waste, paper, wood and yard trimmings.

An interactive web mapping tool (below) was developed to assist users in navigating the inventory by county and by category of residual biomass. The window top bar includes different tabs that users can click to navigate the inventory by biomass category. The map viewable under each tab can be zoomed and individual counties can be clicked to get county-level information. This data can be viewed in full-screen mode using the lower right-corner icon.

Units

Energy: Terra Joule (TJ) → 1 TJ = 9.478x10⁸ MMBtu

Mass: Giga grams (Gg) → 1 Gg = 1102.31 US tons

Initial results suggest several North Carolina rural and urban counties contain significant amounts of residual biomass that can support renewable energy projects. The results also indicate a great opportunity for mixed-source projects that leverage a mixture of residual biomasses. These projects can overcome processing limitations associated with individual biomasses and improve the logistics involved in transportation and processing. A detailed report is currently being finalized to report the data sources, methods, expert inputs and assumptions used to develop this inventory and will be available for download here.

Dr. Mahmoud Sharara, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, NC State University

Art Samberg, North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center

Kimberly Conley, Town of Morrisville

Alexander Yoshizumi, Center for Geospatial Analytics, NC State University

Matthew Watts, Center for Geospatial Analytics, NC State University

Zhenchen Li, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University

For questions about the North Carolina Residual Biomass Inventory research project, contact Dr. Mahmoud Sharara via email at msharar@ncsu.edu.