Desert 'carbon farming' to suppress CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists state that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", say the idea is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics state the idea might be have unpredicted, negative impacts consisting of increasing food costs.
The research has been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is very well adapted to extreme conditions including incredibly dry deserts.
It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha could record up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The results are overwhelming," said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
"There was good development, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.
The scientists say that a vital aspect of the strategy would be the availability 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 says that unlike other schemes that simply offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, brief term solution to climate modification.
"I believe it is a good concept because we are really extracting co2 from the atmosphere - and it is totally various in between drawing out and avoiding."
According to the researcher's computations the expenses of curbing carbon dioxide via 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 variety of countries are currently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be collected for biofuel say the researchers, providing a financial return.
"Jatropha is perfect to be become biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other experts in this area are not convinced. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially 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 manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once seen as the fantastic, green hope the truth was very different.
"When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land," she stated.
"But there are frequently people who need minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we wouldn't class the land as minimal."
She explained that jatropha is extremely toxic and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the concept.
"It is still someone else's land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these people didn't in fact trigger?"
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related web links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
candy801407375 edited this page 2025-01-12 05:56:27 +08:00