Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

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

But critics say the concept could be have unpredicted, negative impacts consisting of driving up food rates.

The research has been released, in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from 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 study, German researchers showed that one hectare of jatropha might capture as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment 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, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.

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

The researchers say that a vital aspect of the plan would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This suggests that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.

They are wishing to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, brief term service to environment change.

"I think it is an excellent idea since we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the environment - and it is completely different in between drawing out and avoiding."

According to the researcher's estimations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide via 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 presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be released commercially.

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the researchers, supplying a financial return.

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

But other specialists in this location are not convinced. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a number of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in coping with dry conditions.

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

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

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

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely toxic and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the idea.

"It is still someone else's land. Why enter and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these people didn't actually trigger?"

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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