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 locations could be a reliable method 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 idea could be have unforeseen, unfavorable effects including driving up food rates.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is very well adjusted to extreme conditions including very dry 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 one hectare of jatropha might capture as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

“There was great growth, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the start,” he stated.

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

The researchers say that an important element of the plan would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.

They are intending to establish bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, short term solution to environment modification.

“I believe it is a good idea since we are truly extracting co2 from the environment – and it is completely different in between drawing out and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s calculations the costs of curbing co2 by means of the planting of trees would be in between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other strategies, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

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

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

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

But other professionals in this area are not convinced. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, as the plants were not really successful in managing dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the terrific, green hope the truth was very various.

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

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

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had issues about the fairness of the concept.

“It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle a problem these individuals didn’t really cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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