The Rape Pomace and Microcrystalline Cellulose Composites Made by Press Processing
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this paper the effect of MCC additive and temperature on mechanical & physical properties of bio-composites made of rapeseed meal and MCC-filler was studied. The results are interesting, but raise some questions.
A). Introduction
(1).
Lines 36-37: Promising natural materials, which may be applied for production of biodegradable composites, include polysaccharides, proteins, lipids and rubber [2].
Lines 38-29: Therefore, it is reasonable to search for new raw materials, rich in natural polymers, which are attractive for manufacturers from an economic point of view.
Remark: There is no logical bind between the sentences shown in lines 36-37 & lines 38-39. Therefore, intermediate (binding) sentence between two sentences is needed, for example: "However, it is important to expand the raw material base for the production of biocomposites".
(2). Line 59: Therefore ....; Line 61: Therefore .... Remark: Repetition of the word “therefore” should be avoided.
(3). Lines 71-72. Regarding sentence: Biocomposites filled with MCC still remain a relatively new research field in comparison with materials containing traditional fillers. Remark: This statement is not right. Hundreds of articles are known about the use of MCC as a filler for biocomposites. Therefore, this sentence should be reviewed, for example, “Filling biocomposites with MCC has been widely studied, but the practical use of MCC filler is limited in comparison with materials containing traditional fillers”.
(4). Lines 75-76: In addition, it has been reported that the Young’s modulus of MCC is around 150 GPa [17]. Remark: This statement is not right. Young’s modulus of MCC 150 GPa is for nano-cellulose (NC) in form of nanocrystals or nanowhiskers in longitudinal direction. Reference [17] is related to nano-whiskers of cellulose instead of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC). MCC is not a crystal, but aggregates of partially hydrolyzed short fragments of cellulose fibers with average size 20-200 µm and crystallinity (Cr) of 60-75% depending on cellulose type and method of determination of Cr. The Young's modulus of MCC is smaller than of NC: 25±4GPa only (see e.g. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1013181804540).
B). Materials and Results
Remark: Why maximum content of MCC in composites was 8% only, and not 10, 15 or 20%? Authors must justify their choice of such MCC content.
Author Response
Thank you for your comments and suggestions given to help improve this manuscript. I deeply appreciate your time spent on this. I have corrected the introduction to the introduction section in accordance to your remarks. You are fully right, about microcellulose mechanical properties, so I improve the Young Modulus values for MCC, the one reference paper has been exchanged in this section. In Materials section I have shortly explained why maximum content of MCC in the composites was so low and next reference article has been included. Please find my amendments for the introduction in the attached revised paper.
Reviewer 2 Report
In the manuscript "The rape pomace and microcrystalline cellulose composites, made by press processing" authors prepared biocomposites out of rapeseed meal and microcristalline cellulose.
Overall the work is well presented and gives enough information for other researchers to repeat the experiments.
Conclusions are also in accordance with the results presented.
This reviewer did not find any major problems in English style.
Author Response
Thank you for your comments and suggestions given to help improve this manuscript. I deeply appreciate your time spent on this. Please find my amendments for the introduction in the attached revised paper.
