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 say the concept is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics state the idea might be have unexpected, unfavorable effects including driving up food prices.

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to harsh conditions including incredibly arid 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 research study, German researchers revealed that a person hectare of jatropha could capture approximately 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 excellent growth, a great response from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much larger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.

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

The scientists say that a vital element of the plan would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This indicates that at first, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

They are wanting to establish bigger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that just balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term service to climate modification.

"I think it is a great concept due to the fact that we are actually drawing out co2 from the atmosphere - and it is entirely various between extracting and avoiding."

According to the researcher's estimations the of suppressing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be in between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other strategies, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A number of countries are presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be harvested for biofuel state the researchers, supplying an economic return.

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

But other professionals in this area are not encouraged. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But many of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective 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 reality was extremely various.

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

"But there are frequently people who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as marginal."

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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