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 great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed «carbon farming», scientists say the concept is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics say the concept could be have unexpected, unfavorable impacts consisting of increasing food prices.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to harsh conditions including exceptionally dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German scientists showed that one of jatropha might record up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their estimates on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

«The results are overwhelming,» stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

«There was great growth, a great response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,» he stated.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.

The researchers state that a critical aspect of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This means that initially, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.

They are intending to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short term service to environment change.

«I believe it is a great concept since we are actually drawing out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere — and it is totally different in between extracting and preventing.»

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

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

Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel say the scientists, providing a financial return.

«Jatropha is perfect to be developed into biokerosene — it is even better than biodiesel,» said Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this area are not convinced. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely successful in handling dry conditions.

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

«When jatropha was presented it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land,» she stated.

«But there are typically people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location — we would not class the land as marginal.»

She mentioned that jatropha is highly harmful and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the idea.

«It is still someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t in fact trigger?»

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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