Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

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

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

But critics state the idea could be have unexpected, unfavorable impacts consisting of increasing 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 in Central America and is effectively adapted to harsh conditions consisting of extremely dry deserts.

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

In this study, German researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha could catch approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

“The results are overwhelming,” stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

“There was good development, a great action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.

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

They are hoping to establish larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short term service to climate modification.

“I believe it is a good concept due to the fact that we are truly drawing out co2 from the environment – and it is entirely different between drawing out and avoiding.”

According to the researcher’s estimations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide via the of trees would be in 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 variety of nations are presently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.

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

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

But other experts in this location are not persuaded. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a lot of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in coping with dry conditions.

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

“When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land,” she stated.

“But there are often individuals who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as marginal.”

She mentioned that jatropha is extremely hazardous 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 somebody else’s land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t actually cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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