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 great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be a reliable way of curbing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics say the concept could be have unpredicted, negative impacts including increasing food prices.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to severe conditions consisting of exceptionally dry deserts.

It is currently 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 capture approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists 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 growth, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the start,” 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 20 year period.

The researchers state that a vital aspect of the strategy would be the availability of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.

They are wanting to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short-term service to environment modification.

“I think it is an excellent concept because we are really extracting co2 from the environment – and it is completely various in between extracting and avoiding.”

According to the researcher’s calculations the costs of curbing co2 through the planting 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 countries are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not only takes in CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel state the scientists, supplying an economic return.

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

But other experts in this area are not convinced. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But many of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in managing dry conditions.

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

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

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

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely poisonous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the concept.

“It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to deal with a problem these individuals didn’t in fact trigger?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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