Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress 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 locations could be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers state the concept is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.

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

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to harsh conditions including very 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 research study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their price 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 development, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much larger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the start,” he said.

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 period.

The researchers say that a crucial aspect of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This indicates 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 says that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term service to environment modification.

“I believe it is a great idea since we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is completely various in between extracting and preventing.”

According to the scientist’s estimations 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 techniques, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

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

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel state the researchers, providing a financial return.

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

But other professionals in this location are not convinced. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors ended in tears,, as the plants were not very successful in handling dry conditions.

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

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

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

She mentioned that jatropha is extremely harmful 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 somebody else’s land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these people didn’t actually cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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