705 research outputs found
Insect pests of tea and their management
Globally, 1031 species of arthropods are associated with the intensively
managed tea Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze monoculture. All parts of
the plant, leaf, stem, root, flower, and seed, are fed upon by at least one
pest species, resulting in an 11%–55% loss in yield if left unchecked.
There has been heavy use of organosynthetic pesticides since the 1950s
to defend the plant against these pests, leading to rapid conversion of
innocuous species into pests, development of resistance, and undesirable
pesticide residues in made tea. As a result of importer and consumer
concerns, pesticide residues have become a major problem for the tea
industry. Integrated pest management (IPM) may help to overcome the
overuse of pesticides and subsequent residues.We review the advances
made in our understanding of the biology and ecology of major insect
and mite pests of tea, host plant resistance, cultural practices, biocontrol
measures, and need-based application of botanicals and safer pesticides
to understand the present status of IPM and to identify future challenges
to improvement
Review and selection of recycling technology for lithium-ion batteries made for EV application - A life cycle perspective
The lithium-ion battery is the source of renewable energy and the battery-operated vehicles are gradually replacing fossil fuel-based automobiles. Though Electric Vehicles (EVs) do not produce emissions through tailpipes, yet the issues pertaining to recycling of the lithium-ion batteries employed in EVs lead to environmental burdens. The EVs sale in global market exceeds a million per year. It is estimated that there will be a huge amount of unprocessed waste of lithium-ion battery packs when these vehicles retire after the service life. The re-use of batteries can reduce the waste generation, however the cumulative burden of the battery wastes will be substantial considering the increasing trend of the electric-vehicle market. There are various methods employed for recycling of lithium-ion batteries. The existing literature reports that their environmental impact is significant. The challenge is to choose a method which causes minimal disruptions to the environment in terms of cost, pollution and energy consumption, which can be effectively addressed by a life cycle analysis based selection method. In this paper, a review is conducted on the current recycling technologies and WPM (Weighted Product Method) based Multi-Criteria Approach is employed to optimally choose the best recycling process for lithium-ion batteries from life cycle perspective
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