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 great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed “carbon farming”, scientists say the concept is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics say the idea could be have unforeseen, negative effects including driving up food prices.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is effectively adapted to severe conditions consisting of very arid deserts.

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

In this research study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha might record up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their estimates on trees currently 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 excellent 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 said.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.

The researchers say that a crucial element of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This suggests that at first, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

They are intending to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, short term option to environment modification.

“I believe it is an excellent idea due to the fact that we are really drawing out co2 from the environment – and it is completely various in between extracting and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s calculations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide by means of 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 variety of countries are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel say the scientists, supplying a financial return.

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

But other experts in this location are not persuaded. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But many of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in coping with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the terrific, green hope the truth was really different.

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

“But there are typically 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 explained that jatropha is extremely harmful and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had issues about the fairness of the concept.

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

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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