El grupu neandertal de la Cueva d'El Sidrón (Borines, Piloña).

Na monografía clásica de Puig y Larraz (1896: 250-252) amiéntense delles cavidaes del Conceyu de Piloña2 , pero non la Cueva d’El Sidrón (Fig. 1). Esta conocíase, ensin dulda, dende la Guerra Civil y el maquis al servir d’abellugu a persiguíos políticos, y guarda una alcordanza imborrable nuna de les sos múltiples entraes, yá qu’ellí ta enterrada Olvido Otero González (1908-1938). Per El Sidrón pasaron munches persones a lo llargo de los años, pero en 1994 prodúxose’l descubrimientu per parte d’unos espeleólogos xixoneses d’unos güesos humanos que dieron un importante xiru a la conocencia de los nuesos antepasaos neandertale

El grupu neandertal de la Cueva d'El Sidrón (Borines, Piloña)

Na monografía clásica de Puig y Larraz (1896: 250-252) amiéntense delles cavidaes del Conceyu de Piloña, pero non la Cueva d’El Sidrón (Fig. 1). Esta conocíase, ensin dulda, dende la Guerra Civil y el maquis al servir d’abellugu a persiguíos políticos, y guarda una alcordanza imborrable nuna de les sos múltiples entraes, yá qu’ellí ta enterrada Olvido Otero González (1908-1938). Per El Sidrón pasaron munches persones a lo llargo de los años, pero en 1994 prodúxose’l descubrimientu per parte d’unos espeleólogos xixoneses d’unos güesos humanos que dieron un importante xiru a la conocencia de los nuesos antepasaos neandertales.Peer Reviewe

Heterogeneous contributions of change in population distribution of body mass index to change in obesity and underweight NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

From 1985 to 2016, the prevalence of underweight decreased, and that of obesity and severe obesity increased, in most regions, with significant variation in the magnitude of these changes across regions. We investigated how much change in mean body mass index (BMI) explains changes in the prevalence of underweight, obesity, and severe obesity in different regions using data from 2896 population-based studies with 187 million participants. Changes in the prevalence of underweight and total obesity, and to a lesser extent severe obesity, are largely driven by shifts in the distribution of BMI, with smaller contributions from changes in the shape of the distribution. In East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, the underweight tail of the BMI distribution was left behind as the distribution shifted. There is a need for policies that address all forms of malnutrition by making healthy foods accessible and affordable, while restricting unhealthy foods through fiscal and regulatory restrictions

Unravelling the volumetric performance of activated carbons from biomass wastes in supercapacitors

With the awareness of the need for low-cost carbons for supercapacitors, the recycling of biomass wastes as precursors of activated carbons is focusing great interest. The comparison of a diversity of carbons derived from residues of industrial processing of grapes, apples and cherries reveals the utility of physical activation to achieve better volumetric performance in aqueous supercapacitors. Whereas the high porosity development of the materials obtained by KOH activation (mostly around 1500–2000 m2 g-1) provides a superior gravimetric capacitance up to nearly 300 F g-1 in 2 M H2SO4, the low density of the electrodes reduces the volumetric capacitance to 60–130 Fcm−3. Porous carbons produced by steam or CO2 reaches higher efficiency for compact devices. The physically activated materials display an ultramicroporous structure with standard surface areas of around 900 m2 g−1 and, therefore, their gravimetric capacitance is limited to 100–150 F g-1. However, harnessing the balance of porosity, density and good packaging, the corresponding electrodes reach 80–170 F cm−3, without sacrificing power delivery by the supercapacitor. Higher carbon yield and lower environmental impact represent additional advantages of the physical activation to produce biomass wastes derived-carbons.The funding from European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through project CEMOWAS2 (SOE2/P5/F0505)-INTERREG V-SUDOE 2017 and Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (PCTI) 2018–2020 del Principado de Asturias (Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through project IDI/2018/000233 is acknowledged.Peer reviewe

Impact of carbon pores size on ionic liquid based-supercapacitor performance

A comprehensive comparison of symmetrical supercapacitors assembling carbon electrodes with exclusively microporous, mesoporous or combined micro-mesoporous networks provides a critical outlook on the influence of pores size on the performance with ionic liquid-based electrolyte 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EMIm-TFSI) dissolved in acetonitrile. Contrary to widespread claims, the results for an electrodes set involving carbons of different origin indicate that the presence of large pores does not ensure a better supercapacitor performance. At low current density, the capacitance is basically determined by the surface in pores above 0.8 nm, regardless of the pore size distribution. In addition, the beneficial effect of large pores on the response rate of the supercapacitor cannot be concluded in a straightforward manner. On the contrary, wide porosity in electrodes has detrimental effects that should not be underestimated as far as the competitiveness of the final device is concerned. The greater amount of electrolyte required by larger pores will increase both the weight and the cost of the cell. More importantly, the widening of carbon pores (even in the range of micropores) notably reduces the density of the corresponding electrodes and, consequently, the supercapacitor performance in volumetric terms may not be suitable for practical applications.This work was supported by Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (PCTI) 2018-2020 del Principado de Asturias and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through project IDI/2018/000233

Capacitance and surface of carbons in supercapacitors

This research is focused in the missing link between the specific surface area of carbons surface and their electrochemical capacitance. Current protocols used for the characterization of carbons applied in supercapacitors electrodes induce inconsistencies in the values of the interfacial capacitance (in F m−2), which is hindering the optimization of supercapacitors. The constraints of both the physisorption of N2 at 77 K and the standard methods used for the isotherm analysis frequently lead to a misleading picture of the porosity. Moreover, the specific surface area of carbons loses their meaning when the supercapacitor operates with organic electrolytes and ionic liquids and the actual surface involved in charge storage has to be assessed by molecular probes suiting the critical dimensions of the ions. In the case of certain carbons such as graphene type-materials, the voltage-driven mechanism may facilitate the access of electrolyte ions to spaces between carbon layers, providing a larger area than that estimated by gas adsorption. Finally, the morphological and porous features of carbons can be extremely modified when they are processed in electrodes. Due to their impact, all these issues should not be neglected and the characterization protocols must be adapted for this specific application of carbons.Financial support from EU 7FP (Project Electrograph-266391) is gratefully acknowledged. L.S. thanks the support from Programa Estatal de Promoción del Talento y su Empleabilidad en I+D+i and European Social Fund-Youth Employment Initiative. The authors wish to thank Danubia Nanotech sro. (Slovakia) and Abalonyx AS (Norway) for the gift of graphene materials of series GO-B and S77, respectively.Peer reviewe

Apple Waste: A Sustainable Source of Carbon Materials and Valuable Compounds

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b04266The implementation of sustainable strategies based on the integral valorization of residues is the most efficient way to achieve a profitable circular economy. This comprehensive study highlights the potential of apple waste from juice and cider production as a precursor of porous carbons and provides guidelines to achieve a wide spectrum of physicochemical properties. Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of apple bagasse is proposed as a feasible integrated process with zero waste that allows stabilizing this highly pollutant residue in the form of a carbon-enriched solid while extracting valuable compounds in the aqueous phase. The liquid fraction resulting from HTC at 200 °C contains a high total phenolic content and antioxidant activity, the major products being catechol (1,2-dihydroxybenzene) and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (HMF). The successful upgrading of the solid byproduct into porous carbons provides additional advantage for a more cost-effective waste management. It is reported that a simple one-step activation leads to apple-derived carbons with specific surface areas up to 2000 m2 g–1 and electrochemical capacitances as high as 260–290 F g–1. Their excellent performance as supercapacitor electrodes make them very promising for the storage of electrical energy from renewable sources.The funding from INTERREG V- SUDOE 2017 through project CEMOWAS2 (SOE2/P5/F0505) and from Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (PCTI) 2018-2020 del Principado de Asturias and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through project IDI/2018/000233 is acknowledged. The SERIDA financial support for this work was managed by the National Institute of Research Agro-Food Technology (INIA) and co-financed with ERDF and ESF funds (RTA 2015-00060-CO4-03).Peer reviewe

Winery wastes as precursors of sustainable porous carbons for environmental applications

An efficient alternative for the management and valorization of the huge amount of seasonal wastes generated by winery industries is shown. Sustainable porous carbons were successfully prepared by one-pot activation of grape bagasse, stalks and oil free-seeds. Benefiting from the high moisture of these residues, a prior hydrothermal carbonization increases the activation yield and generates carbons with less oxygen content and inorganic impurities. The mild physical or chemical activation of winery wastes resulted in highly microporous carbons with specific surface SBET up to 2053 m2/g and great potential for environmental protection and electrical energy storage. They are excellent sorbents for CO2 capture under post- and pre-combustion conditions (16 and 69 wt%, respectively) and achieve superior electrochemical capacitance of nearly 300 F/g in aqueous electrolyte and 180 F/g in ionic liquid based-medium.This study received financial support from CSIC in the frame of Project PIE-201680E035. N.Q. acknowledges a fellowship from Gobierno del Principado de Asturias (Programa Severo Ochoa). L.S. thanks the support from Programa Estatal de Promoción del Talento y su Empleabilidad en I + D + i and European Social Fund-Youth Employment Initiative.Peer reviewe

Hydrothermal carbonization as a sustainable strategy for integral valorisation of apple waste

Hydrothermal carbonization makes feasible the integral and profitable recovery of industrial apple waste within a zero-residue bio-economy. 82–96% of the energy and 80–93% of the C in the apple bagasse are retained in the solids generated by hydrothermal treatment at 180 and 230 °C for 2 and 4 h. Such processes stabilize the apple waste and lead to CO2 neutral solid fuels with calorific value close to 30 MJ/kg. The agrochemical properties of the solid by-products suggest their potential to improve soil quality. Aqueous streams containing valuable phenolic compounds and saturated fatty acids are generated simultaneously, which provide additional cost-effectiveness. The by-products characteristics can be suited to the final application by selecting the reaction temperature, whereas the process duration has less impact. Optical microscopy and reflectance measurements are presented, for the first time, as powerful tools for assessing the biomass transformation when subjected to hydrothermal treatment under different conditions.The funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through project CEMOWAS2 (SOE2/P5/F0505)-INTERREG V SUDOE 2017 and Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (PCTI) 2018–2020 del Principado de Asturias and ERDF through project IDI/2018/000233 is acknowledged. The authors also acknowledge support from the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (2013-2016), ref. AGL201675762-R. This study was partly supported by grant AGL2016-76832-R from the National Program for Research Aimed at the Challenges of Society (Spain).Peer reviewe

Biomass waste-carbon/reduced graphene oxide composite electrodes for enhanced supercapacitors

We present a simple and effective alternative which optimizes electrodes based on low-cost carbons for high-performance supercapacitors. The combination with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) greatly improves the operation of microporous carbons easily produced by one-pot activation of grape seeds. The use of composite electrodes with rGO lowers the supercapacitor resistance and enables a much higher rate capability. The mixture of rGO flakes and particles of a highly porous carbon obtained by KOH activation allows retaining the high capacitance of 260 F g−1 of the standard electrodes at 1 mA cm−2 in aqueous H2SO4 whereas the value at 200 mA cm−2 is increased by around 2.4 times. Consequently, at high current density, the capacitor assembled with these composites stores eight times more energy and the power density is multiplied by four. The synergy between rGO and an ultramicroporous carbon produced by CO2-activation results extremely profitable, the cell assembled with composite electrodes reaching three times more energy and power at 200 mA cm−2 than the best performance of the standard counterpart. More importantly, the higher density of the composite electrodes leads to a capacitance of around 200 F cm−3 which translates into a remarkable improvement in the supercapacitor operation normalized to volume.T.A.C. gratefully acknowledges the funding from CSIC [Proyecto Intramural Especial 2016 8 0E035]. V.V. and V.S. thank the support by Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract APVV-16-0319.Peer reviewe