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 big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be a reliable way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists state the concept is economically competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics say the idea might be have unpredicted, negative effects including driving up food rates.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is really well adjusted to severe conditions including extremely dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha might capture as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The researchers based their quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

“There was great development, an excellent 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 said.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three 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 say that a crucial component of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This indicates that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.

They are wanting to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, short term service to climate change.

“I think it is an excellent idea because we are really drawing out carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is totally various in between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s calculations the expenses of suppressing co2 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 nations are presently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the scientists, offering an economic return.

“Jatropha is ideal to be become biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” said Prof Becker.

But other experts in this location are not encouraged. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But many of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely effective in handling dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the excellent, green hope the reality was really various.

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

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

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

“It is still someone else’s land. Why enter and grow these enormous plantations to deal with a problem these individuals didn’t in fact cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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