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 could be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists state the idea is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics say the concept could be have unpredicted, negative effects consisting of increasing food costs.

The research study has actually been published, 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 dry deserts.

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

In this study, German scientists revealed that a person hectare of jatropha could capture approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their price quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

"There was great growth, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the start," he stated.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.

The researchers say that an important element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

They are intending to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, short term service to environment modification.

"I think it is a great idea since we are really extracting co2 from the environment - and it is totally various in between extracting and preventing."

According to the researcher's computations the expenses of curbing carbon dioxide by means of 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 number of countries are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just takes in CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be collected for biofuel state the researchers, supplying a financial return.

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

But other specialists in this location are not persuaded. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large 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 really successful in managing dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the excellent, green hope the reality was really various.

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

"But there are frequently individuals who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we wouldn't class the land as marginal."

She explained that jatropha is extremely hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had issues about the fairness of the idea.

"It is still somebody else's land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to deal with an issue these people didn't really cause?"

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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