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 an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics say the idea might be have unanticipated, negative effects including increasing food rates.

The research 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 extremely well adapted to severe conditions including exceptionally 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 scientists showed that one hectare of jatropha might catch approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The scientists 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 great growth, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.

The researchers state that a vital aspect of the plan would be the availability of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be confined to coastal locations.

They are wanting to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short-term solution to environment change.

“I think it is a good concept since we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is completely different between drawing out and avoiding.”

According to the scientist’s calculations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide via the planting of trees would be 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 innovation, 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 areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel say the researchers, supplying an .

“Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this area are not persuaded. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in dealing with dry conditions.

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

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

“But there are typically 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 pointed out that jatropha is highly hazardous and can pollute 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 massive plantations to handle a problem these people didn’t in fact cause?”

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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