Biomass Resources and Emission Reduction Potential of Agricultural and Livestock Residues in Mainland China from 2013 to 2022

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is a paper on the calculation of biomass resources and the assessment of emission reduction potential, which analyzes valid data from existing databases to calculate corresponding results. The innovation is generally average. The reviewer has the following comments on the paper content:

1. The abstract does not specify the calculation and evaluation methods used by the author. Moreover, the result discussion lacks data support, and it only generally writing the conclusions.

2. The introduction content is too brief, especially in the section on the current status of research at China and abroad. The author must deeply analyze the shortcomings of existing studies by scholars to highlight the innovation of this study.

3. The analysis data only covers the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. Is the amount of data too small? Is it up-to-date? Calculating old data for three years using existing formulas, is the result reliable?

4. The results section lists a large number of charts, and the same data is represented by both graphs and tables. Is this redundant? The reviewer believes that the author should list key data and provide in-depth analysis in the content, rather than simply glossing over it with a few sentences.

5. The study takes the entire Chinese region as its subject, considering the enrichment of the content.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

None.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

 

 

 

 

The manuscript explains “Calculation of Biomass Resources and Emission Reduction Potential of Agricultural Residues in China”. The English language of the manuscript can be improved. After a careful review, I found this work interesting and worth publishing in the Sustainability. I propose this work can be published after revision as following:

·         The title of manuscript should be modified and use "Calculating biomass resources" instead of "Calculation of biomass resources" in the title.

·         Line 53-54: In introduction section kindly provide the references. 

·         Line 56-57: Kindly use full form of "mio" then use abbreviation in whole manuscript.

·        In introduction section kindly provide more introduction of different type of resources which are being used for emission reduction with their percentages/values. The authors should provide proper background of biomass resources and emission reduction potential with previous references in introduction section.

·         Line 78-90: In study area and data, the authors should shift " China's vast territory....development of bioenergy" in introduction section.

·         Line 53-54: In study area and data, kindly mention variations/specifications of  22 provinces, 4 municipalities and 5 autonomous regions.

·         Line 97: In data sources, kindly modified "Carbon emission data were" to "Carbon emission data was".

·         In result section, figure 1, kindly use English word in figures to represent the directions like East and north etc. Kindly also provide a map of all studied areas or label all areas in all figures to understand the results.

·         The authors should give number and size of each sampling area. Why are the authors only giving data from 2019-2021? What about 2022-2023?

·         In figure 3, the authors have used only 2 color palette, kindly write it as livestock residues (2019-2021) and crop residues (2019-2021).   

·         Line 223: kindly correct the formula “CO2” to “CO₂”. and changed it in whole manuscript.

·         The authors should provide conversion rate and emission reduction of each parameter in whole results and then explain results accordingly. In discussion section, the authors can give more specific discussion related to biomass production and related their conversion in different bioresources and reduction of emission by using that bio-energy sources.

 ·         The authors should write summary/conclusion separately and explain their key findings and give suggestion related to their findings.

·         Kindly check the English language in whole manuscript. 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are some grammatical errors in writing. Kindly check it

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This article discusses a popular and relevant topic, namely the assessment of the potential of biomass, from which it is possible to obtain carbon neutral energy.

The manuscript is made with a clear structure, where the potentials of the regions of China are considered. However, there are several important comments, namely: 

1. There is no detail in calculating the potential of livestock waste, it is necessary to identify in more detail the main components and their share in the total mass.

2. This paper analyzes the potential of biomass for obtaining energy resources, but does not analyze the impact on flora and fauna if biomass is transferred from nature to processing plants. Since biomass itself is food, shelter and fertilizer for different organisms, if this element is removed, the consequences can be severe and not recoverable. 

3. It is necessary to show data on energy costs for the production of fuel from biomass and compare it with the energy that can be obtained from this fuel for 1 equivalent unit. Since in some cases, the energy cost of producing alternative fuels is significantly higher than it will be obtained by using fuels.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 5 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article describes an “Calculation of Biomass Resources and Emission Reduction Potential of Agricultural Residues in China”. Also, this study calculates and analyzes the spatiotemporal distribution of agricultural residue-based biomass resources and their carbon emission reduction potential across various provinces in China. The findings are as follows: 1) The northeastern, southwestern, and northern regions of China exhibit substantial potential for utilizing biomass energy, with livestock residues being preferred than agricultural residues; 2) Biomass energy can significantly reduce carbon emissions by replacing traditional energy sources such as raw coal and coking coal. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Sichuan Province, and the Shandong-Henan region show significant emission reduction potential; and 3) Social factors play a crucial role in the availability of agricultural residue-based biomass resources. This work contains some new findings and only a minor change is needed before acceptance.

1.      The abstract needs to be changed. To make it apparent, it must include the work's novelty and strong points.

2.      Please check the words and grammar in the manuscript carefully.

 

3.      In the reference section, some of inaccurate subscripts (including Ref. 20), the author should make corrections and check once again.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

None.

Author Response

Thanks for your comment.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thanks to the authors for addressing the suggestions/comments.

Author Response

感谢您的评论。

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have improve their revised manuscript. Still there are few suggestions for improving their mansucript.
By improving their figure resolution, the manuscript will impact more to understand the whole biomass resources and emission reduction potential for agriculture. If authors can include geographical variation in selected provinces on the basis of environmental conditions and soil conditions then it would be more beneficial for biomass resources and emission reduction potential in particular areas.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Still minor English language editing is required

Author Response

Please see attached file

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thanks for the detailed answers

Author Response

感谢您的评论。