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 say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an efficient way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed « carbon farming », scientists state the concept is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics state the idea could be have unanticipated, negative impacts consisting of driving up food rates.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is effectively adjusted to extreme conditions consisting of exceptionally 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 record up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The researchers based their estimates 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, a great reaction 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 stated.

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

The scientists state that a critical aspect of the strategy would be the availability of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.

They are intending to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short-term service to environment change.

« I think it is a good idea due to the fact that we are really extracting co2 from the atmosphere – and it is totally different between extracting and avoiding. »

According to the researcher’s computations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide 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 soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the researchers, offering a financial return.

« Jatropha is ideal to be become biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel, » said Prof Becker.

But other experts in this location are not persuaded. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in coping with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the fantastic, green hope the reality was really different.

« When jatropha was presented it was viewed as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land, » she said.

« But there are often individuals who need minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we wouldn’t class the land as limited. »

She explained that jatropha is highly hazardous and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the concept.

« It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these enormous plantations to deal with an issue these individuals didn’t really cause? »

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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