Biomass resources are comprised of plant and animal derived materials used to produce bioenergy (fuels, power, heat) and bioproducts (e.g., chemicals, polymers, composite materials, etc.). Several agricultural, forest industry, and urban biomass resources are currently used as bioenergy and bioproducts feedstocks, including corn grain and grain sorghum for ethanol; oilseed crops (soybean, canola) and waste greases and fats for biodiesel; and forest industry (in-forest materials and mill residues) and urban resources (consumer, construction, and demolition wastes) to produce electricity, heat, and steam.
These traditional biomass resources will continue to play a major role in the emerging bioeconomy, but numerous other existing and potential biomass resources could be used. These include other established grain, oilseed, and sugar crops (e.g., wheat, barley, sunflower, sugarbeets, sugarcane); agricultural crop residues (e.g., corn stover, wheat and other grain straws); animal wastes (e.g., poultry litter); food and industry processing wastes (e.g., sugarcane bagasse, cull fruits and vegetables, fruit pits, rice hulls, pulp processing wastes); and potential new crops (e.g., herbaceous crops such as switchgrass; short rotation crops such as willow and hybrid poplar; oilseed crops such as winter Canola, Camelina, Lesquerella, and Castor; non-wood fiber crops such as kenaf; resin and rubber crops such as guayule); and algae.
The estimated quantities of biomass resources vary by study depending on the types of feedstocks included; technology, environmental, and economic assumptions; and the time frame of the analysis. But by most estimates, the quantities of biomass resources potentially available are substantial.
Research efforts are underway to develop new crops, enhance the feasibility of using existing biomass resources for bioenergy and bioproducts, and to further improve the technologies and economics of using traditional biomass resources.