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 say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics say the concept could be have unanticipated, negative effects consisting of increasing food prices.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is effectively adapted to extreme conditions consisting of very dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German scientists showed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

“There was good development, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start,” he said.

According to the researchers 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 researchers say that a critical element of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination facilities. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

They are wanting to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term option to climate modification.

“I believe it is an excellent idea since we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is totally various in between drawing out and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s calculations the costs of suppressing co2 via the of trees would be in between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other strategies, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A number of nations are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel say the scientists, providing a financial return.

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

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

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once viewed as the excellent, green hope the reality was very different.

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

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

She explained that jatropha is extremely hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had issues about the fairness of the idea.

“It is still someone else’s land. Why enter and grow these huge plantations to deal with an issue these people didn’t actually trigger?”

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