High-performance CO2 sorbents from algae

[EN] Highly porous N-doped carbon materials with apparent surface areas in the 1300–2400 m2 g−1 range and pore volumes up to 1.2 cm3 g−1 have been synthesized from hydrothermal carbons obtained from mixtures of algae and glucose. The porosity of these materials is made up of uniform micropores, most of them having sizes <1 nm. Moreover, they have N contents in the 1.1–4.7 wt% range, and the heteroatom is mainly a pyridone-type structure. These microporous carbons present unprecedented large CO2 capture capacities, up to 7.4 mmol g−1 (1 bar, 0 °C). The importance of the pore size on the CO2 capture capacity of microporous carbon materials is clearly demonstrated. Indeed, a good correlation between the CO2 capture capacity at sub-atmospheric pressure and the volume of narrow micropores is observed. The results suggest that pyridinic-N, pyridonic/pyrrolic-N and quaternary-N do not contribute significantly to the CO2 adsorption capacity, owing probably to their low basicity in comparison with amines. These findings will help the design of high-performance CO2 capture sorbents.The financial support for this research work provided by the Spanish MCyT (CQT2011-24776) is gratefully acknowledged. M.S. acknowledges the assistance of the Spanish MCINN for its award of a Ramón y Cajal contract.Peer reviewe

Renewable Microalgae-derived Nitrogen Doped Hydrothermal Carbons

Nitrogen-doped carbon materials are synthesized via an effective, sustainable, and green one-step route based on the hydrothermal carbonization of microalgae with high nitrogen content (ca. 11 wt %). The addition of the monosaccharide glucose to the reaction mixture is found to be advantageous, enhancing the fixation of nitrogen in the synthesized carbons, resulting in materials possessing nitrogen content in excess of 7 wt %, and leading to promising reaction yields. Increasing the amount of glucose leads to a higher nitrogen retention in the carbons, which suggests co-condensation of the microalgae and glucose-derived degradation/hydrolysis products via Maillard-type cascade reactions, yielding nitrogen-containing aromatic heterocycles (e.g., pyrroles) as confirmed by several analytical techniques. Increasing the HTC processing temperature leads to a further aromatization of the chemical structure of the HTC carbon and the formation of increasingly more condensed nitrogen-containing functional motifs (i.e., pyridinic and quaternary nitrogen).Peer reviewe

Tailoring the porosity of chemically activated hydrothermal carbons: Influence of the precursor and hydrothermal carbonization temperature

Advanced porous materials with tailored porosity (extremely high development of microporosity together with a narrow micropore size distribution (MPSD)) are required in energy and environmental related applications. Lignocellulosic biomass derived HTC carbons are good precursors for the synthesis of activated carbons (ACs) via KOH chemical activation. However, more research is needed in order to tailor the microporosity for those specific applications. In the present work, the influence of the precursor and HTC temperature on the porous properties of the resulting ACs is analyzed, remarking that, regardless of the precursor, highly microporous ACs could be generated. The HTC temperature was found to be an extremely influential parameter affecting the porosity development and the MPSD of the ACs. Tuning of the MPSD of the ACs was achieved by modification of the HTC temperature. Promising preliminary results in gas storage (i.e. CO2 capture and high pressure CH4 storage) were obtained with these materials, showing the effectiveness of this synthesis strategy in converting a low value lignocellulosic biomass into a functional carbon material with high performance in gas storage applications.MMT and CF would like to thank the Max-Planck Society for financial support. DLC, DST, JPML and DCA would like to thank the Spanish MINECO, Generalitat Valenciana and FEDER (Projects CTQ2012-31762 and PROMETEO/2009/047) for financial support. DST. thanks MICCIN (BES-2010-035238)

Anticipating the Flood. Community-based cartography for disaster flood events in Argentina

Anticipando la Crecida Project (Anticipating the Flood) is an interdisciplinary project which deals with flood risk management strategies associated with intense rain events and southeasterly wind « sudestadas » in socio-economical vulnerable urban areas in Argentina. The objective of the current study is to use local knowledge through participatory activities to strengthen the phase of risk awareness of an early warning system by using cartography as a work tool. For this purpose, eleven workshops with adults and children were held between 2014 and 2017 in Buenos Aires metropolitan area and the towns of San Antonio de Areco and Santa Lucía. By helping communities articulate and communicate spatial knowledge through workshops, enable the possibility to advocate for a change. That change result in a new direction on how the community and stakeholders can act towards a flood event. Analysing community-based maps of 85 adults, flood theoretical models can be evaluated and perhaps improved. Additionally, overall 287 students between 10 and 17 years old learned about cartography and interacted with poster maps during the workshops held in different schoolsFil: Gatti, Ignacio Agustin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; ArgentinaFil: Robledo, Federico Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; ArgentinaFil: Hurtado, Sol. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Canneva, Julieta. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Altos Estudios Sociales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Moreira, Diego. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Re, Mariano. Ministerio del Interior, Obras Públicas y Vivienda. Secretaría de Obras Públicas. Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos. Instituto Nacional del Agua y del Ambiente (Ezeiza); ArgentinaFil: Briche, Elodie Sylvie Odile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Falco, Magdalena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera; ArgentinaFil: Kazimierski, Leandro David. Ministerio del Interior, Obras Públicas y Vivienda. Secretaría de Obras Públicas. Subsecretaría de Recursos Hídricos. Instituto Nacional del Agua y del Ambiente (Ezeiza); ArgentinaFil: Micou, Ana Paula. Ministerio de Defensa. Instituto Geografico Nacional; Argentin

Blood Arsenic Levels as a Marker of Breast Cancer Risk among BRCA1 Carriers

Funding Information: Funding: The study was funded by the National Centre for Research and Development Projects. INNOMED/1/16/NCBR/2014 and PBS3/B7/26/2015. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.An important group of breast cancers is those associated with inherited susceptibility. In women, several predisposing mutations in genes involved in DNA repair have been discovered. Women with a germline pathogenic variant in BRCA1 have a lifetime cancer risk of 70%. As part of a larger prospective study on heavy metals, our aim was to investigate if blood arsenic levels are associated with breast cancer risk among women with inherited BRCA1 mutations. A total of 1084 participants with pathogenic variants in BRCA1 were enrolled in this study. Subjects were followed from 2011 to 2020 (mean follow-up time: 3.75 years). During that time, 90 cancers were diagnosed, including 67 breast and 10 ovarian cancers. The group was stratified into two categories (lower and higher blood As levels), divided at the median (<0.85 µg/L and ≥0.85 µg/L) As level among all unaffected participants. Cox proportional hazards models were used to model the association between As levels and cancer incidence. A high blood As level (≥0.85 µg/L) was associated with a significantly increased risk of developing breast cancer (HR = 2.05; 95%CI: 1.18–3.56; p = 0.01) and of any cancer (HR = 1.73; 95%CI: 1.09–2.74; p = 0.02). These findings suggest a possible role of environmental arsenic in the development of cancers among women with germline pathogenic variants in BRCA1.Peer reviewe

Sobre mecanismos de participación ciudadana para fortalecer alertas tempranas de inundaciones urbanas en el contexto de cambio climático

Este trabajo describe las tareas realizadas por el proyecto interdisciplinario Anticipando la Crecida, que tuvo el objetivo general de contribuir en la gestión de riesgos ante desastres asociados a inundaciones por sudestadas y lluvias intensas a través del diálogo con los diferentes actores de diferentes barrios del Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires. La estrategia fue explorar las causas sociales y físico-naturales, en articulación con la adaptación a dichos eventos, y destacar el conocimiento y las tecnologías relativas a su predicción. Los objetivos específicos fueron identificar las necesidades de pronóstico meteorológicos y generar diálogos con los tomadores de decisiones y los habitantes del barrio para la adecuación de la gestión de riesgos ante desastres como las inundaciones por sudestadas y/o lluvias intensas en el área metropolitana de Buenos Aires. El proyecto propone producir conocimiento de manera participativa mediante talleres intersectoriales a escala barrio como estrategia de adaptación al cambio climático.Trabajo publicado en Acta Bioquímica Clínica Latinoamericana; no. 52, supl. 2, parte II, diciembre de 2018.Universidad Nacional de La Plat

Recent advances in hydrothermal carbonisation:from tailored carbon materials and biochemicals to applications and bioenergy

Introduced in the literature in 1913 by Bergius, who at the time was studying biomass coalification, hydrothermal carbonisation, as many other technologies based on renewables, was forgotten during the "industrial revolution". It was rediscovered back in 2005, on the one hand, to follow the trend set by Bergius of biomass to coal conversion for decentralised energy generation, and on the other hand as a novel green method to prepare advanced carbon materials and chemicals from biomass in water, at mild temperature, for energy storage and conversion and environmental protection. In this review, we will present an overview on the latest trends in hydrothermal carbonisation including biomass to bioenergy conversion, upgrading of hydrothermal carbons to fuels over heterogeneous catalysts, advanced carbon materials and their applications in batteries, electrocatalysis and heterogeneous catalysis and finally an analysis of the chemicals in the liquid phase as well as a new family of fluorescent nanomaterials formed at the interface between the liquid and solid phases, known as hydrothermal carbon nanodots

Copernicus Ocean State Report, issue 6

The 6th issue of the Copernicus OSR incorporates a large range of topics for the blue, white and green ocean for all European regional seas, and the global ocean over 1993–2020 with a special focus on 2020

Hydrothermal synthesis of microalgae-derived microporous carbons for electrochemical capacitors

N-doped highly microporous carbons have been successfully fabricated from N-rich microalgae by the combination of low-cost hydrothermal carbonization and industry-adopted KOH activation processes. The hydrothermal carbonization process was found to be an essential step for the successful conversion of microalgae into a carbon material. The materials thus synthesized showed BET surface areas in the range ∼1800–2200 m2 g−1 exclusively ascribed to micropores. The carbons showed N contents in the 0.7–2.7 wt.%, owing to the use of N-rich microalgae as a carbon precursor. When tested in symmetric double layer capacitors (occasionally called supercapacitors) based on aqueous LiCl electrolytes, pseudocapacitance was only observable for the sample synthesized at the lowest temperature, 650 °C, which is the one exhibiting the largest amount of N- and O-containing groups. The samples synthesized at 700–750 °C exhibited excellent rate capability (only 20% of capacitance loose at 20 A g−1), with specific capacitances of 170–200 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1. These materials showed excellent long-term cycling stability under high current densities.The financial support for this research work provided by the US Army Research Office (grant W911NF-12-1-0259) and by the Spanish MINECO (MAT2012-31651) is gratefully acknowledged. M.S. thanks the Spanish MINECO for the award of a Ramón y Cajal contract.Peer reviewe

Assessment of CORDEX simulations over South America: added value on seasonal climatology and resolution considerations

International audienceA new set of CORDEX simulations over South America, together with their coarser-resolution driving Global Climate Models (GCMs) are used to investigate added value of Regional Climate Models (RCMs) in reproducing mean climate conditions over the continent. There are two types of simulations with different lateral boundary conditions: five hindcast simulations use re-analysis as boundary conditions, and five other historical simulations use GCMs outputs. Multi-model ensemble means and individual simulations are evaluated against two or three observation-based gridded datasets for 2-meter surface air temperature and total precipitation. The analysis is performed for summer and winter, over a common period from 1990 to 2004. Results indicate that added value of RCMs is dependent on driving fields, surface properties of the area, season and variable considered. A robust added value for RCMs driven by ERA-Interim is obtained in reproducing the summer climatology of surface air temperature over tropical and subtropical latitudes. Mixed results can be seen, however, for summer precipitation climatology in both hindcast and historical experiments. For winter, there is no noticeable improvement by the RCMs for the large-scale precipitation and surface air temperature climatology. To further understand the added value of RCMs, models deviations from observation are decomposed according to different terms that reflect the observational uncertainty, the representativeness error, the interpolation error, and the actual performance of the model. Regions where these errors are-gentina 2 M. Falco et al. not negligible, such as in complex terrain regions, among others, can be identified. There is a clear need for complementary assessment to understand better the real value added by RCMs