Results
Study results show that North Dakota produces about 20.7 million tons of dry biomass annually. While 98.7% (20.4 million tons) of this quantity is collected from crops, about 1% (0.2 million tons) of the waste is made of municipal wood-based products and less than 1% (0.01 million tons) is made of forest –based woody supply. Top five counties based on the largest amount of biomass waste production are listed in Table -2 along with their land area and population.
Table-2: Top five counties based on the overall biomass production
| Counties | Area (sq. miles)* | Population* | Biomass (tons) |
| Cavalier | 1,488 | 3,895 | 875,301 |
| Cass | 1,765 | 137,335 | 836,624 |
| Stutsman | 2,221 | 20,457 | 746,916 |
| Ward | 2,013 | 55,947 | 719,209 |
| Bottineau | 1,668 | 6,397 | 687,442 |
The majority of biomass comes from crop products. Figure 1 shows the quantity of biomass for each crop as well as the total biomass amount for the state. Wheat biomass of 4.72 million tons is by far the largest contributor to the state biomass, followed by hay (4.59 million tons) and soybeans (3.04 million tons). These three crops represent about 60% of the total state biomass. Sunflowers, canola, corn, and barley generate biomass in range of 1-2 million tons each, representing 30% of the state total. About 10% of the state biomass comes from sugar beats, beans, peas, oats, lentil, flaxseed, and potatoes reporting less than 1 million ton in biomass on individual basis.
Figure 1: Biomass by crop type
Municipal wood-based waste is estimated by county using the data from landfills in the major cities. The composition of the wood-based waste includes: wood chips, leaves, and tree branches. Most cities have services provided to collect this type of waste at the curb. Top five counties generating most of the municipal waste are: Cass, Grand Forks, Stark Bottineau, and Williams.
Logging residue represents the woody material left in the forest or at the log landing during the harvesting of timber for commercial products (e.g., sawlogs, pulpwood, house logs, etc.). The total amount of logging reside produced of timber products in North Dakota during 2007 was 4,719 tons. Most of the state logging reside has private ownership (Table-3). Top two counties, Rolette and Bottineau, account for about 59% of the total state harvest.
Table-3: Logging residue by county and ownership| County | Private (tons) | Other Public (tons) | Total (tons) | % Total |
| Rolette | 1,391 | 0 | 1,391 | 29.49% |
| Bottineau | 1,374 | 0 | 1,374 | 29.13% |
| Barnes | 836 | 0.765 | 837 | 17.74% |
| Pembina | 409 | 245.31 | 654 | 13.87% |
| Cavalier | 460 | 0 | 460 | 9.76% |
| Sioux | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.02% |
| Total | 4,473 | 246 | 4,719 | 100.00% |
Timber biomass of live trees was estimated at 66, 860 tons in 2007. Table-4 shows the distribution of this biomass by county and ownership. Top county based on the timberland production is Barnes reporting 37,317 tons or 56% of the total state biomass production.
Table-4: Timber residue by county and ownership| County | Private (tons) | Other Public (tons) | Total (tons) | % Total |
| Barnes | 35,406 | 1,911 | 37,317 | 55.81% |
| McLean | 3,206 | 0 | 32,206 | 4.80% |
| Benson | 2,390 | 0 | 2,390 | 3.57% |
| Ward | 2,259 | 0 | 2,259 | 3.38% |
| LaMoure | 1,901 | 165 | 2,067 | 3.09% |
| Grand Forks | 1,934 | 0 | 1,934 | 2.89% |
| Nelson | 1,794 | 0 | 1,794 | 2.68% |
| Cavalier | 1,718 | 0 | 1,718 | 2.57% |
| Steele | 1,522 | 0 | 1,522 | 2.28% |
| Cass | 1,503 | 0 | 1,503 | 2.25% |
| Morton | 1,479 | 0 | 1,479 | 2.21% |
| Stark | 1,459 | 0 | 1,459 | 2.18% |
| Sheridan | 1,153 | 0 | 1,153 | 1.72% |
| Sioux | 998 | 0 | 998 | 1.49% |
| Mercer | 683 | 314 | 997 | 1.49% |
| Trail | 683 | 0 | 683 | 1.02% |
| Ramsey | 563 | 0 | 563 | 0.84% |
| McHenry | 510 | 0 | 510 | 0.76% |
| Walsh | 437 | 0 | 437 | 0.65% |
| Burleigh | 395 | 2 | 397 | 0.59% |
| McIntosh | 369 | 0 | 369 | 0.55% |
| Divide | 364 | 0 | 364 | 0.54% |
| Mountrail | 350 | 0 | 350 | 0.52% |
| Ransom | 263 | 0 | 263 | 0.39% |
| Burke | 218 | 0 | 218 | 0.33% |
| Stutsman | 0 | 176 | 0 | 0.26% |
| Bottineau | 172 | 0 | 172 | 0.26% |
| McKenzie | 125 | 0 | 125 | 0.19% |
| Pembina | 114 | 0 | 114 | 0.17% |
| Richland | 59 | 36 | 59 | 0.14% |
| Hettinger | 91 | 0 | 91 | 0.14% |
| Williams | 76 | 0 | 76 | 0.11% |
| Foster | 57 | 0 | 57 | 0.09% |
| Kidder | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0.01% |
| Dickey | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0.00% |
| Total | 64,257 | 2,603 | 66,860 | 100.00% |
Total amount of hay and tree residues accounted in National and State parks is 47,367 tons.