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Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

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

Dubbed “carbon farming”, researchers state the concept is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics say the idea could be have unpredicted, unfavorable effects including driving up food costs.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is very well adjusted to harsh conditions consisting of extremely arid 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 one hectare of jatropha could capture up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

“The outcomes are overwhelming,” said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in .

“There was great growth, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much larger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,” he stated.

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

The researchers say that a critical element of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This means that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.

They are wanting to establish bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, short-term option to environment modification.

“I believe it is a great idea due to the fact that we are really extracting co2 from the environment – and it is totally various between extracting and preventing.”

According to the scientist’s computations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide via the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other methods, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

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

Growing jatropha not only absorbs CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be harvested for biofuel say the researchers, supplying a financial return.

“Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even better than biodiesel,” stated Prof Becker.

But other experts in this location are not convinced. They indicate the fact that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But much of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in dealing with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once seen as the excellent, green hope the truth was really different.

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

“But there are typically people who need minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we wouldn’t class the land as limited.”

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

“It is still somebody else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these people didn’t really cause?”

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

The BBC is not accountable for the material of external websites.

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