Development of a γ-Al₂O₃-Based Heterogeneous Fenton-like Catalyst and Its Application in the Advanced Treatment of Maotai-Flavored Baijiu Wastewater

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Major Revisions Needed: To approve the article, major revisions are necessary, as outlined below:

Detailed Revisions:

a. Careful definition of Fenton and Fenton-like processes throughout the article is required. A Fenton process specifically involves the use of Fe²⁺ ions and H₂O₂.

b. In line 15, it is unnecessary to repeat "advanced treatment of..... wastewater."

c. Before line 90 in the introduction, discuss the chemical and catalytic benefits of adding other metals to the advanced treatment process.

d. In line 104, the discussion of SEM micrographs appears to be reversed and needs to be corrected.

e. In Figure 2, clarify the captions to specify what each graph represents. Include a size bar in each image.

f. Lines 129-132 relate catalyst behavior to catalytic activity before this is mentioned. Reorganize the information accordingly. The same applies to line 147 concerning stability.

g. The discussion in lines 142-147 should be supported by EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) tests.

h. In lines 163-164, it is redundant to list all prepared catalysts again if they have already been mentioned in the experimental section. Be more general unless it pertains to the discussion.

i. Lines 185-186 discuss the COD value of 12 ppm as low but do not consider the potential toxicity of reaction intermediates. Clarify that eco- and cytotoxicity tests are necessary to ensure environmental safety.

j. In lines 214-216, cite studies that discuss how excess peroxide inhibits further radical formation, such as through scavengers.

k. For Figure 7, adjust the X-axis scale for better readability of the catalyst mass values (e.g., increments of 20).

l. Lines 272-278 mention low COD values after eight reaction cycles but do not evaluate if catalyst material loss causes deactivation. Assess how much catalyst is lost and if it falls within acceptable limits.

m. In line 334, add citations after "numerous studies."

Author Response

Thank you for your work and professional advice on our paper.

Please refer to the attachment for our response.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

-The paper presents fundamental knowledge to the scientific community. It describes the synthesis of Fenton-like catalysts by impregnation method for effectively removing COD from Maotai-flavor Baijiu wastewater. The synthesized catalysts are stable and recyclable demonstrating their potential for a wide range of applications.

I have gone through the paper and a few suggestions are given below.

 

1.      Please replace the word ‘construction’ with fabrication or development.

2.      The figures must have error bars (Figures 3, 4,5,6,7,8,10).

3.      Please mention standard deviation in Table 1 results.

4.      The presented results should be compared with the reported literature values (in terms of catalyst and in terms of model pollutant). A tabulated information would be more descriptive.

5.      For kinetics studies, the models must be plotted by non-linear equations which give a true interpretation of kinetic phenomenon without any approximation like in linearized version.

6.      The phase identification of the synthesized catalysts is missing, which is typically done by XRD.  

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your work and professional advice on our paper.

Please refer to the attachment for our response.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I suggest reviewing the amounts of catalyst used during the reaction. Whether it is 30 g or 100 g of catalyst for a reaction in 100 mL of contaminated water, it seems like an excessive amount of material. Did you mean to use mg?

or did you simply use those amounts? If so, I think the process is inefficient to consider for scaling up.

 

 

       

Author Response

Thank you for your professional insights.

Please refer to the attached document for our response.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf