China and India

The earliest record of human usage of iron dates to ca 2000 BC (5) in Egypt, Asia Minor, Assyria, China, and India. It is almost certain, however, that the first iron to be used was not processed but was obtained from meteorites (1). One of the few places where native iron is found is in Greenland, where it occurs as very small grains or nodules in basalt (an iron-bearing igneous rock) that empted through beds of coal. 

Among the most important changes affecting the sulfur industry during the early 1990s were those that occurred in Eastern Europe and Asia, especially in China and India. As demand for food and fertilizers increased in Asia, so did the demand for sulfur. 

Egyptians purportedly practiced distillation around 1000—2000 BC by heating wine and making a product called arden spidts. China and India are also said to have carried out distillation in the pre-Christian era. The Chinese reportedly made a distilled beverage from nee beer around 800 BC. The Arabs learned about distillation from the Egyptians and developed an apparatus in the form of a closed heated container that was called an alembic. 

The pattern of commercial production of 1,3-butadiene parallels the overall development of the petrochemical industry. Since its discovery via pyrolysis of various organic materials, butadiene has been manufactured from acetylene as weU as ethanol, both via butanediols (1,3- and 1,4-) as intermediates (see Acetylene-DERIVED chemicals). On a global basis, the importance of these processes has decreased substantially because of the increasing production of butadiene from petroleum sources. China and India stiU convert ethanol to butadiene using the two-step process while Poland and the former USSR use a one-step process (229,230). In the past butadiene also was produced by the dehydrogenation of / -butane and oxydehydrogenation of / -butenes. However, butadiene is now primarily produced as a by-product in the steam cracking of hydrocarbon streams to produce ethylene. Except under market dislocation situations, butadiene is almost exclusively manufactured by this process in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. 

Wholesale prices for No. 1 castor oil in tank car lots was l.ll/kg in 1990 compared to 1.60/kg in 1984 and 0.74/kg in 1986 (65). Brazil, China, and India accounted for about 85% of the world exports, and France, the United States, Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom accounted for about 75% of the world imports from 1986—1989. 

About 1.5 billion hectares of crop land are planted for annual crops and permanent crops. About one third of the arable and permenant crop-land is located in the United States, India, and China. Out of 1.5 billion hectares, 263 million hectares arc irrigated. Irrigated lands in China and India account for the largest share—about 110 million hectares. 

Sion in energy-intensive industry, such as China and India, show relatively unchanging shares of industrial energy use. In other countries, such as Thailand and Mexico, the share and/or growth of the transportation sector dominate. Many smaller countries have remained primarily agrarian societies with modest manufacturing infrastructure. 

For centuries, the beneficial effects of crude extracts from the ginkgo tree were well known in China and India. In traditional Chinese medicine, a boiled-down extract of ginkgo leaves is inhaled to alleviate asthmatic symptoms, and, in India, ginkgo extracts constitute a key ingredient of Soma, a mystical liquid that is thought to increase life span.5 The Japanese know it as the Itcho tree and they frequently use its edible fruit, the ginkgo nut, in cooking. 

As shown in Table 7, tea produced in Asia contributed to over 80% of the worldwide crop in 1994.16 China and India are the primary growers of tea leaves and they not only export but retain much of the tea for domestic consumption. African production is only 13% of the worldwide production and South American production was 72,000 metric tons in 1994. 

Lead (chemical symbol Pb, from the Latin name for the metal, plumbum) is a gray, soft, ductile, and very poisonous metal, although its poisonous properties were probably unknown to the ancients. The metal has been used, particularly in China and India, since very ancient times. Lead is not found in nature in the native, metallic form, although tiny particles of the metal are occasionally encrusted in rocks. It is unlikely, therefore, that the metal would... 

Sepuveda A, Schluep M, Renaud FG, Streicher M, Kuehr R, Hageliien C, Gerecke AC (2009) A review of the environmental fate and effects of hazardous substances released from electrical and electronic equipments during recycling examples from China and India. Environ Impact Assess Rev 30(l) 28-48. doi 10.1016/j.eiar.2009.04.001... 

Brigden K, Labunska I, Santillo D, Allsopp M (2005) Recycling of electronic wastes in China and India workplace and environmental contamination, Report. Greenpeace... 

Pretty J N, Ball A S, Xiaoyun Li and Ravindranath, N H (2002). The role of sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource management in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing sinks in China and India . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 360, 1741-1761. 

Chinese wax is a white to yellowish-white, gelatinous, crystalline, water-insoluble substance obtained from the secretion of the scaled insect Coccus ceriferus, common in China and India. Chinese wax is used chiefly in the manufacture of polishes, sizes, and candles and is traditionally employed in Chinese medicine. It is basically made up of ceryl cerotate (esacosanoyl esacosanoate) and esacosanol [78,79]. 

HydroAgri (1998) Specialnummer Mineralgodselmedel och var miljo. Vaxtpressen 27 14-15 IFAD (2005) Organic agriculture and poverty reduction in Asia China and India focus, report n. 1664, July 2005... 

Table 6. Probability of dying from cancer and cardiovascular diseases between ages 15 and 60 years for males and females in China and India, in percent (Murray and Lopez, 1994).

Meeting the Kyoto goals could have a major impact on the electric power and auto industries and many believed the economy would suffer greatly. Developing countries like China and India would be exempt from the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. China and India have plans to build over 600 coal-fired plants. The emissions of these plants would be 5 times the total saving of Kyoto. 

Objectors to Kyoto say it is based on questional science and would damage the U.S. economy. It exempts two of the world s biggest polluters, China and India, which together produce about as much C02 as the United States. 

Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel in the U.S. and many other countries. In the U.S. coal makes up about 95% of all fossil energy reserves. These reserves could last several hundred years at the current level of coal consumption. Major developing countries such as China and India, which are now using more and more of the world s oil, also have large coal reserves. 

The geographical distribution of oil consumption depicts a very different picture from production. The USA alone is responsible for one quarter of total consumption, followed by China and Japan the European Union accounts for 18%. In particular, consumption in China and India more than doubled in the last decade, with China showing a surge in demand of 17% between 2003 and 2004. The transportation sector today is responsible for 47% of total primary oil consumption,... 

This shift requires considerable education and training of the workforce and, in combination with possible mass production by 2020, necessitates early political action because of the required gradual build-up of manufacturing capacity and skilled labour. Further research work is necessary to analyse today s weak and strong aspects of the education system in European countries and to develop an action plan for adaptation to the new requirements. This analysis should take into account the demographics of the European nations, which is an important factor. Will Europe be able to find the necessary skilled labour such as engineers and technicians or will they import skilled labour from countries like China and India ... 

Most experts predict that crude oil reserves will last no more than 40-50 years of world consumption, although wide disagreement exists on when the world crude oil production peak will possibly occur. The combination of a growing worldwide product and transport demand, as seen in China and India, for example, with a diminishing world supply of crude oil may lead to sharply escalating price levels for crude oil with a detrimental impact on the activity level of industry. 

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