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 areas could be a reliable method of curbing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers say the idea is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics state the concept might be have unforeseen, unfavorable effects consisting of increasing food costs.
The research study has actually been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to severe conditions consisting of extremely dry deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world due to the fact that its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha might capture approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide 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," said 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 trying it on a much larger 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 absorb all the CO2 produced by vehicles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.
The researchers say that a crucial aspect of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This means that initially, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.
They are hoping to trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, short-term option to climate modification.
"I think it is a great concept because we are actually extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is completely various between drawing out and preventing."
According to the scientist's computations the expenses of suppressing co2 through the planting of trees would be in 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 number of nations are presently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.
Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however 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 become biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other specialists in this area 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 lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in managing dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the fantastic, green hope the truth was extremely various.
"When jatropha was presented it was viewed as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land," she said.
"But there are often individuals who need limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we wouldn't class the land as limited."
She pointed out that jatropha is extremely poisonous 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 enter and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these people 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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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
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