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 state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be a reliable method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers say the idea is financially competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics say the concept might be have unforeseen, unfavorable effects including driving up food prices.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to severe conditions including incredibly arid deserts.

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

In this study, German researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

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

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.

The scientists say that an important element of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This means that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside locations.

They are wishing to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, brief term solution to climate change.

“I think it is a great concept due to the fact that we are actually drawing out co2 from the atmosphere – and it is entirely various between drawing out and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s computations the expenses of curbing co2 via 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 nations are presently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel say the researchers, supplying a financial return.

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

But other specialists in this area are not convinced. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 big 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 really successful in dealing with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was when viewed as the great, green hope the truth was extremely different.

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

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

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely hazardous 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 go in and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t really trigger?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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