Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb 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 locations could be an efficient way of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics state the concept could be have unanticipated, negative effects including driving up food costs.

The research study has 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 adjusted to harsh conditions including very arid deserts.

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

In this study, German researchers revealed that one of jatropha might capture up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their 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 great development, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much larger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the beginning,” he said.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.

The researchers state that a vital component of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside locations.

They are intending to develop larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, short term solution to climate modification.

“I think it is a great idea since we are really extracting co2 from the atmosphere – and it is entirely different between extracting and preventing.”

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

A variety of nations are presently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the scientists, supplying a financial return.

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

But other experts in this area are not convinced. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in dealing with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was once viewed as the fantastic, green hope the truth was really various.

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

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

She explained that jatropha is highly toxic and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the idea.

“It is still someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to deal with an issue these people didn’t in fact cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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