Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

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

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

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is extremely well adapted to severe conditions including very arid deserts.

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

In this research study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha might catch approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide 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 frustrating,” said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was good development, a good 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 take in all the CO2 produced by vehicles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.

The scientists state that an important component of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This suggests that at first, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

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

“I believe it is a good idea because we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is totally various in between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s estimations the expenses of curbing 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 variety of nations are presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

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

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

But other experts in this area are not encouraged. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But a number of these endeavors ended in tears,, as the plants were not extremely successful in managing dry conditions.

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

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

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

She explained that jatropha is extremely hazardous 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 somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these enormous plantations to handle a problem these people 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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