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 state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable way of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics state the idea could be have unpredicted, negative effects including increasing food rates.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to severe conditions consisting of exceptionally arid deserts.

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

In this study, German scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha might record up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

“There was good growth, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start,” he said.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by vehicles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.

The researchers state that an important element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be confined to coastal locations.

They are wanting to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term solution to climate modification.

“I think it is a good concept due to the fact that we are truly drawing out co2 from the environment – and it is completely different between drawing out and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s estimations the expenses of curbing carbon dioxide by means of the planting of trees would be in 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 presently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

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

“Jatropha is ideal to be become biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” said Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this area are not persuaded. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers 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 very effective in handling dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the terrific, green hope the truth was various.

“When jatropha was introduced it was viewed as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land,” she said.

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

She mentioned that jatropha is extremely toxic and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the idea.

“It is still someone else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these people 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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