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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 great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists say the idea is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics say the concept might be have unanticipated, negative impacts including increasing food rates.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that in Central America and is effectively adapted to severe conditions including exceptionally dry deserts.

It is currently 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 might capture approximately 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 outcomes are frustrating," stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

"There was good development, a good action from these plants. I feel there will be no issue attempting it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he said.

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

The researchers say that a vital element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This means that at first, any plantations would be restricted to seaside areas.

They are wanting to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that simply balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, short term service to environment change.

"I think it is a great idea because we are really extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is totally different between extracting and avoiding."

According to the scientist's estimations the costs of curbing carbon dioxide by means of 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 currently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 but has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be collected for biofuel say the researchers, providing an economic return.

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

But other experts in this area are not persuaded. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But many 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 states that while jatropha was when viewed as the great, green hope the truth was very 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 frequently people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as minimal."

She pointed out that jatropha is highly harmful and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had concerns about the fairness of the concept.

"It is still someone else's land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to handle a problem these individuals didn't in fact trigger?"

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related internet links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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