The funded study (DE-EE0009667) will be performed between 10/01/21 and 9/30/2025. It targets understanding the characteristics critical to turning low-cost, abundant municipal solid waste (MSW) into conversion-ready feedstocks for producing biofuels through gasification and solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) as targeted thermal and biological conversion technologies with final Fischer–Tropsch (F-T) processing to liquid hydrocarbon fuels. The proposed technology advancement will bring significant impact to the biofuel industry by offering an alternative feedstock sources to conventional gasification and anaerobic digestion by valorizing MSW. The proposed technology delivers MSW sampling and characterization standard operating procedures (SOPs) as well as mathematical, statistical, and machine learning models capable of producing spatially and temporally representative MSW information specifically tailored for downstream conversion technologies. The innovative characteristic technologies will benefit the US biofuel industry by developing a characterization SOP plan for developing an economically competitive MSW feedstock for the liquid fuel market.