Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2

Desert 'carbon farming' to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

Scientists state that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an efficient way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers state the idea is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics state the idea might be have unexpected, unfavorable effects consisting of increasing food prices.

The research study has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adapted to severe conditions consisting of incredibly dry deserts.

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

In this research study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha could record as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their estimates 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 great development, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start," he said.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.

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

They are hoping to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, brief term service to environment modification.

"I think it is an excellent concept due to the fact that we are truly extracting co2 from the atmosphere - and it is entirely different in between drawing out and preventing."

According to the researcher's calculations 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 techniques, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A variety of countries are currently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be collected for biofuel say the scientists, providing an economic return.

"Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this area are not encouraged. 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 endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in dealing with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the terrific, green hope the truth was really 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 often people who need limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we would not class the land as minimal."

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

"It is still someone else's land. Why go in and grow these enormous plantations to deal with a problem these individuals didn't really trigger?"

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