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Desert 'carbon farming' to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists say that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers state the concept is financially competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage jobs.

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

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

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is extremely well adjusted to severe conditions consisting of exceptionally 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 scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha could catch up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

"The results are frustrating," said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

"There was great development, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much bigger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the beginning," he said.

According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years .

The researchers state that a critical component of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination facilities. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to coastal areas.

They are wanting to develop larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short-term option to environment change.

"I think it is a good idea because we are actually drawing out co2 from the environment - and it is totally various in between extracting and avoiding."

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

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

Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would assist to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the scientists, supplying an economic return.

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

But other experts in this location are not convinced. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in coping with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was when viewed as the terrific, green hope the reality was extremely various.

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

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

She explained that jatropha is extremely harmful 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 somebody else's land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to deal with a problem 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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