Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

Scientists say that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics say the concept could be have unpredicted, unfavorable impacts including driving up food prices.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is effectively adapted to harsh conditions consisting of very arid 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 one hectare of jatropha could capture approximately 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 outcomes are frustrating,” stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was good development, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much bigger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.

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

The researchers say that a crucial aspect of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.

They are wanting to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, brief term option to environment change.

“I believe it is an excellent concept because we are actually drawing out co2 from the atmosphere – and it is completely different in between extracting and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s computations 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 methods, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A number of nations are currently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the scientists, supplying an economic return.

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

But other specialists in this area are not convinced. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But much of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in handling dry conditions.

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

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

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

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

“It is still someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t actually cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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