Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

Scientists say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists say the concept is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics state the concept could be have unforeseen, unfavorable effects including driving up food rates.

The research has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is really well adjusted to harsh conditions consisting of incredibly dry deserts.

It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because its seeds can produce oil.

In this study, German researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might record as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

“The outcomes are overwhelming,” stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was excellent development, an excellent response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he said.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.

The scientists say that a critical element of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This indicates that at first, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

They are wanting to establish larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, brief term service to environment change.

“I believe it is an excellent concept because we are actually extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is totally different between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s estimations the expenses of curbing co2 through the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other methods, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A number of countries are currently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing not only soaks up CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the researchers, providing an economic return.

“Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this location are not encouraged. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a number of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really effective in managing dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once seen as the fantastic, green hope the reality was very different.

“When jatropha was presented it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land,” she said.

“But there are typically people who require marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as limited.”

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely harmful and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the idea.

“It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these people didn’t actually trigger?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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