The Effect of a Fly Ash-Based Soil Conditioner on Corn and Wheat Yield and Risk Analysis of Heavy Metal Contamination

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This study has interesting results of showing how fly-ash can be used to increase crop production resulting in environmental protection from heavy metal contamination.

I have some minor comments:

• What is CFA, please abbreviate.
• What is BCF, please abbreviate.
• Page 2, Line 62: what do you mean by “decrease in the quantity of the dry matter”, please clarify.
• What is HMs? Please abbreviate.
• mu – means? Use SI unit in whole manuscript.
• What is TF, please abbreviate.
• Figure 1 should go to materials and methods.
• Page 18, Line 418-426: are these conclusions? Please revise.

Author Response

1. The full spelling and abbreviation of CFA is given on line 12. CFA is coal fly ash.
2. In line 23, the complete spelling and abbreviation of BCF is given for the first time, BCF is bio-concentration factor, while the detailed definition and calculation method are given in line 314.
3. In the experiment, we tested the quality of the plant tissue before and after drying. During the drying process, the plant loses free water and “the quantity of the dry matter” of the plant can be obtained by drying. It represents the accumulation of plant biomass and can reflect the growth status of plants to a certain extent.
4. The full spelling and abbreviation of HMs are given in line 21. HMs are heavy metals.
5. In line 23, the full spelling and abbreviation of TF is given for the first time, TF is translocation factor, and the detailed definition and calculation method are given in line 317.
6. It has been modified, thank you for your suggestion.
7. 418 to 426 belongs to conclusion. It may be that the format has changed during file transfer. It has been modified and thanks for your advice.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Line 46-47: the amorphous phase in fly ashes is not only silica.

Line 48: olivine in nor present in fly ashes. it's usually converted in other phases. Are you sure?

Line 95: the chemical amounts are for these elements or for the oxides of elements? In line 98 you write the oxides of the elements.

Lines 365-367 it is written that for TF_stem the change wasn’t significant and then it was shown an upgrade of As and Pb 60% and 40%. Write in another way.

Author Response

1. The amorphous phase in fly ashes is not only silica but also many other amorphous phase substances.However the content of other substances are relatively low, so they are not mentioned.
2. The thermodynamic calculation results show that at 1200 degrees Celsius, iron olivine is likely to be formed. We have also detected the presence of iron olivine in the fly ash of the circulating fluidized bed boiler, but the content is very small.
3. For calcium ,magnesium, Aluminum, iron, silicon and other elements with relatively high content, we used ICP to test their specific element content. Therefore, the chemical content in line 95 is for these elements. The 98 line refers to the activation rate of each important element oxide in fly ash, not the content.
4. It has been modified, thank you for your suggestion.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf