Desert 'carbon farming' to suppress CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be a reliable way of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers say the idea is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics say the concept might be have unforeseen, unfavorable impacts including driving up food rates.
The research study has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is very well adapted to severe conditions consisting of extremely dry deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world due to the fact that its seeds can produce oil.
In this study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The researchers based their quotes on trees presently 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 development, a good response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much bigger 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 absorb all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.
The scientists state that a crucial component of the plan would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This means that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.
They are wanting to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, short-term option to climate modification.
"I believe it is a great idea since we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is completely various in between drawing out and preventing."
According to the researcher's computations 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 techniques, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).
A variety of nations are presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be released 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 say the researchers, supplying an economic return.
"Jatropha is ideal to be developed into biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this area are not encouraged. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But numerous of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in coping with dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was once viewed as the terrific, green hope the truth was really different.
"When jatropha was presented it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land," she stated.
"But there are typically individuals who require marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as minimal."
She explained that jatropha is highly 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 someone else's land. Why enter and grow these enormous plantations to deal with an issue these people didn't in fact trigger?"
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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