NEBRA Member LP Consulting (www.lpconsulting.ca ) hired NEBRA to assist with a project funded by the National Research Council Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) to advance new agricultural and carbon opportunities for industrial waste by-products. The project proposed to collect and analyze as many residual byproducts as possible to determine their potential value as agricultural amendments.

Originally, the NRC-IRAP grant was approved to analyze 48 by-product samples. Due to strong industry interest, the work expanded to 68 industrial by-products from 34 industry partners across Canada (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia) and the United States (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, California, Indiana, Ohio, Washington, Wisconsin, Florida, Texas). Other residuals analyzed included digestates, wood ash, lime mud, manure-based materials, and others. The diversity of participants and materials significantly strengthened the dataset and improved its real-world relevance.

Titled Scientific Evaluation of Industrial By-products as Soil By-products to Support FieldCarbon Emissions-Reduction Modelling, the project utilized LP’s FieldCarbon™ program which has been in development for four years. The project also utilized a modified version of NEBRA’s Biosolids Emissions Assessment Model (the BEAM) to calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the processing and ultimate end uses of the residual materials analyzed in this study. NEBRA also assisted on the project by providing outreach and encouraging participation of biosolids and residuals managers far and wide.  

The BEAM was modified to look at a wide variety of both biosolids and non-biosolids residual products. The project looked at materials side by side for landfill emissions only, with the exceptions being production-related emissions for composted and pelletized products. The majority of materials submitted for the project were biosolids-based -- including some biochars and composts -- and pulp and paper residuals. There were also some non-traditional materials that were analyzed. The BEAM numbers were then fed into LP’s FieldCarbon™ program.

The work built on earlier IRAP-supported work that had demonstrated the technical feasibility of the FieldCarbon™ methodology and LP’s custom software program. This phase focused on one of the biggest barriers to scale: the lack of standardized data on industrial by-products suitable for agricultural use, carbon modelling, and defensible emissions-reduction quantification. To address that gap, LP developed standardized datasets and aligned the results with their carbon accounting methodology.

The project included collecting representative samples for accredited laboratory analysis and providing agronomic assessment, regulatory review, and GHG emissions modelling for each residual material in the study.

Although additional analyses and detailed studies are recommended for some of the materials, the finding showed in general that there is benefit for both farmers and industry from recycling certain products. LP found if these materials were beneficially used in agriculture, the estimated value included approximately $88 million in fertilizer replacement (CAD), $14 million in lime replacement (CAD), and 229,000 tonnes of organic matter contribution, with a conservative organic value of about $4million (CAD). Although not exact, these findings highlight the scale of the opportunity to reduce input costs, improve soil function, and support circular nutrient systems.

The carbon opportunity is significant. The project identified a preliminary modeled emissions-reduction potential of 332,295 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. These are not verified credits, but they show the scale of the opportunity when beneficial reuse is supported by strong data and a credible methodology.

The regulatory findings were encouraging. Approximately 90% of the by-products evaluated met applicable Canadian and U.S. regulatory thresholds for agricultural use. The main barriers identified were not always outright compliance failures, but rather jurisdictional variability, permitting requirements, cumulative loading limits, and classification pathways that affect how materials can move into agricultural markets.

An added benefit was the insight it provided on BEAM. Use of the BEAM in this project highlighted where it can be strengthened to better support verification-level use and expanded to include materials beyond biosolids. The project team learned what information is needed to analyze other residuals and what research would be helpful to compile to support emission factors and calculations in the BEAM. That is a valuable outcome and will help advance defensible residuals-based carbon accounting programs such as the BEAM.

This project was designed to evaluate whether industrial by-products could be more effectively characterized and integrated into agricultural nutrient management and emissions-reduction systems. The work confirmed that they can, and the findings were stronger and broader than we originally anticipated. LP Consulting believes this kind of work has not been carried out at this scale or in a way that brings together industrial by-products, agronomic evaluation, regulatory pathways, and carbon modelling in one coordinated framework. The companies that submitted samples will receive individual reports with the analysis on their material in terms of agricultural and other ecosystems benefits. Further analysis and assessments are recommended for some.

LP Consulting has been leading the way in developing partnerships between industry and agriculture by integrating industrial waste by-products into agricultural systems in a way that creates value for both sectors. LP has previously done projects for the New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island governments related to agricultural soil health. LP’s FieldCarbon™ model is intended to support beneficial use, reduce reliance on synthetic inputs, and create carbon opportunities.