Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an efficient method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics state the idea might be have unexpected, unfavorable effects including increasing food prices.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is really well adjusted to extreme conditions consisting of very arid 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 revealed that one hectare of jatropha might record up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The researchers based their estimates on trees currently 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 great growth, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for example 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 vehicles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.

The scientists state that a critical element of the strategy would be the availability of desalination centers. This that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.

They are wanting to establish bigger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term solution to climate modification.

“I think it is a great idea because we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – and it is entirely various between extracting and preventing.”

According to the researcher’s computations 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 innovation, external however it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be collected for biofuel state the scientists, supplying a financial return.

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

But other specialists in this location are not persuaded. They indicate the fact that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a number 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 manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the great, green hope the reality was extremely various.

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

“But there are typically people who need limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we wouldn’t class the land as minimal.”

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 issues about the fairness of the concept.

“It is still somebody else’s land. Why go in and grow these enormous plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t actually cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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