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 state that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics say the concept might be have unpredicted, negative impacts consisting of driving up food rates.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adjusted to harsh conditions consisting of exceptionally arid deserts.

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

In this research study, German scientists showed that one hectare of jatropha might record up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees presently 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 excellent growth, a good response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he said.

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

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

They are hoping to develop bigger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short term solution to climate modification.

“I think it is an excellent concept because we are truly extracting co2 from the atmosphere – and it is completely different between extracting and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s calculations the expenses of curbing co2 through the planting of trees would be in 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 countries are presently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the scientists, providing an economic return.

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

But other specialists in this area are not convinced. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a number of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in managing dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once viewed as the great, green hope the truth was extremely 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 frequently individuals who require limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we wouldn’t class the land as minimal.”

She mentioned that jatropha is highly poisonous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the idea.

“It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these people didn’t in fact trigger?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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