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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 say that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers say the idea is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.
But critics say the idea could be have unanticipated, unfavorable effects including driving up food prices.
The research has actually been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is effectively adapted to severe conditions including exceptionally arid 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 might catch up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees currently 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 good development, a great response from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the start,” he said.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.
The scientists state that a crucial aspect of the plan would be the availability of desalination facilities. This means that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.
They are wanting to develop larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a good, brief term service to climate change.
“I believe it is a good idea since we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is totally different in between drawing out and preventing.”
According to the researcher’s estimations the expenses of suppressing carbon dioxide through 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 currently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the scientists, offering a financial return.
“Jatropha is ideal to be developed into biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this location are not convinced. They indicate the fact that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely successful in handling dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was when viewed as the great, green hope the truth was very different.
“When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land,” she stated.
“But there are frequently individuals who need minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we would not class the land as limited.”
She pointed out that jatropha is extremely hazardous and can contaminate 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 go in and grow these massive plantations to deal with a problem these people 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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