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 great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers say the concept is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics say the idea could be have unpredicted, negative effects consisting of 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 effectively adjusted to severe conditions including very dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might record as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

"The outcomes are frustrating," stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

"There was excellent growth, a good reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.

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

The scientists state that a vital element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This indicates that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.

They are wishing to develop larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, short-term option to climate change.

"I think it is an excellent concept due to the fact that we are really extracting co2 from the environment - and it is completely different between drawing out and preventing."

According to the researcher's computations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be 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 variety of nations are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be harvested for biofuel state the researchers, providing an economic return.

"Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," said Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this location are not persuaded. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in dealing with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was when seen as the great, green hope the truth was really different.

"When jatropha was presented it was viewed as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land," she stated.

"But there are often 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 contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the concept.

"It is still somebody else's land. Why go in and grow these enormous plantations to handle a problem these people didn't really cause?"

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