Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations could be a reliable way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers say the idea is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics say the idea might be have unexpected, unfavorable effects consisting of driving up food costs.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is really well adapted to extreme conditions consisting of incredibly dry deserts.

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

In this study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha might catch as much as 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 outcomes are frustrating,” stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was excellent growth, an excellent response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance ten 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 in Germany over a 20 year period.

The scientists state that a vital aspect of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This means that at first, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.

They are hoping to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, brief term service to climate change.

“I believe it is a great idea because we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is entirely different in between drawing out and avoiding.”

According to the researcher’s computations the expenses of suppressing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other methods, 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 absorbs 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 say the researchers, supplying an economic return.

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

But other professionals in this area are not persuaded. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really in coping with dry conditions.

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

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

“But there are typically individuals who require marginal 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 harmful and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the idea.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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