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 say 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 high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.

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

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is really well adapted to harsh conditions consisting of extremely dry deserts.

It is currently 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 scientists showed that one hectare of jatropha could capture as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

“There was excellent growth, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.

According to the scientists 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 twenty years period.

The researchers state that an important component of the plan would be the schedule of desalination centers. This means that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.

They are intending to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, brief term option to climate change.

“I think it is a great idea because we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is entirely different between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the researcher’s estimations the expenses of suppressing carbon dioxide via the planting of trees would be 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 number of countries are currently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

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

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

But other experts in this location are not encouraged. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in managing dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as 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 limited land,” she said.

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

She mentioned 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 concept.

“It is still someone else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these people didn’t really cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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