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 big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists state the concept is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics state the concept might be have unexpected, unfavorable impacts consisting of increasing food costs.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is very well adapted to severe conditions consisting of extremely 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 scientists revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees currently 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 great development, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.

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

The researchers say that a crucial component of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.

They are wanting to develop larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term option to climate change.

“I believe it is an excellent idea because we are really extracting co2 from the environment – and it is entirely different between drawing out and preventing.”

According to the scientist’s computations the costs of suppressing co2 via the planting of trees would be in 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 number of nations are currently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just takes in CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the researchers, offering a financial return.

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

But other professionals in this location are not convinced. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really effective in managing dry conditions.

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

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

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

She explained that jatropha is highly harmful 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 enormous plantations to handle a problem 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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