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 locations could be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics state the concept might be have unanticipated, negative impacts consisting of driving up food prices.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is very well adapted to severe conditions including very arid deserts.

It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.

In this research study, German scientists showed that one hectare of jatropha might catch approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The researchers based their 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 good development, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much larger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.

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

The scientists say that a crucial element of the plan would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This indicates that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.

They are wanting to establish larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short-term service to environment modification.

“I believe it is a good concept because we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is completely different in between drawing out and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s calculations the costs of suppressing 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 countries are currently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would help 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 perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.

But other experts in this area are not convinced. They point to the fact 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 really successful in handling dry conditions.

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

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

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

She mentioned that jatropha is highly hazardous and can pollute 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 go in and grow these huge plantations to deal with an issue these individuals didn’t in fact cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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