Advancements in Bioelectrochemical Systems for Solid Organic Waste Valorization: A Comprehensive Review
, Md. Salatul Islam Mozumder 2, Vijay Kumar Garlapati 3 and Surajbhan Sevda 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article represents a state-of-the-art of solid waste management and the relationship with the environmental pollution/rehabilitation, as one of the most important concerns of the moment. The present techniques for converting the chemical energy of organic wastes into electric energy are analyzed, with details regarding the stage, advantages and limitations of bioelectrochemical systems. Arguments are also brought from the studies and research analyzed regarding the boosting of the waste treatment efficiency, recovery of resources and environmental sustainability through combining different methods.The manuscript is clear and analyze recent publications related to this subject.
It is also well-structured, even if more graphics and clear comparison between the analyzed papers would have brought valuable details. Because the article does not refer to actual research, the scientific value cannot be concretely analyzed, but with reference only to this type of work, which is why it could not be assigned a higher score. But it is considered that such materials are useful for those who want quick information in a specific field, and the references used can later indicate the research actually carried out.
The manuscript is easy to understand and the conclusions are clear, that is the combination of the bioelectrochemical with other technologies or solid waste treatment methods.
The manuscript fit the journal scope, making a recapitulation and interpretation of research involving processes, regarding an extremely important subject for the present and future of this planet.
I consider important this kind of analyze to be published and itis a clear overall benefit to publishing this work.
I have made some suggestions and recommendation directly on the text. After resolving of them, I recommend publishing of the manuscript.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
We thank you to the reviewer for your valuable comments. All the comments are cited nicely along with manuscript text.
The manuscript is revised as per the reviewer's comments.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The whole of Table 1 makes little sense, since wastes as such cannot be generalised and described in this way. However, if the authors want to leave it in the text, they should focus on the characteristics of the waste to which the method is applied and change the title of the table.Title fot the table will be better: Table 1. Concise overview of the key characteristics of solid waste.
Since the text is about biodegradable waste, the description of the waste should focus on this type of waste.
In the paper, it is necessary to refine the technical details of the text itself, such as spaces between words, spell check and punctuation marks. It is particularly important that the same term is used in the text - waste, garbage or trash. The recommendation is definitely a waste. The paper lists in Table 2 the types of waste that can be used for BSE technology and are referred to as industrial waste. The authors are requested to describe these types of wastes in more detail.
The titles of all tables should be changed according to the proposal for Table 1.
Furthermore, the paper has a significant drawback, namely its structure. As the technology is described, it is not clear whether the authors have done their own research or only based the paper on literature references. In the paper itself, the chapter on "Methodology" is missing and it is suggested that all chapters be reformulated.
A spell check is necessary.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable comments. The Table 1 and Table 2 titles are revised as per suggestion. All the comments are answered in the revised manuscript. In this "review" article, the possibilities of solid waste are explored by using a bioelectrochemical system.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript is a review focused on the important ecological problem and its connection with energy producation via application of the bioelectrochemical systems. The topic is of high interest and has clear social impact.
The bioelectrochemical systems capabilities in the solid organic waste utilization and their combination with other technologies are considered in details. The attention is paid to fundamental aspect of bioelectrochemical systems, their configuration and microorganisms required for the solid waste treatment. Synergetic effect from bioelectrochemical systems combination with anaerobic digestion, composting, waste-to-energy systems are also considered and advantages acjieved are mentioned.
The manuscript is well-prepared and logically presented. Conclusions are fully supported with the data discussed.
Minor revision is required prior to the acceptance to publication.
1. Type of the Paper should be replace with Review (line 1).
2. Table 1 title replace with "Concise overview of the key characteristics of solid waste".
3. Line 79, remove italics for "of".
4. Line 86, check the sentence (extra and missed spaces, misprints).
5. Figure 1 is unreadable. Replace with the image of high resolution and check carefully the text inside.
6. Figure 1 caption change as " The basic working principal for BES using solid and liquid waste".
7. Line 199, ref. [22], the superscript style to be removed.
8. P. 7, equation 2 is better to write in chemical symbols.
9. Lines 282-285 and Table 3, the text is marked with light grey color. Remove colored mask.
10. Table 3, latin names of microorganisms has to be in italics.
11. Section 7, the number of equations are wrong. They should be continued as 3, 4, etc.
12. Abbreviations to be carefully checked. Several of them are not explained at first mention.
In general, English is ok. Minor revision would be enough.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable comments. All the comments are answered in the revised manuscript.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 4 Report
The presented review is devoted to a dynamically developing branch of research, namely, bioelectrochemical systems and their application in the processing of solid organic waste. The urgency of this work is out of question. The authors analysed a fairly large bulk of literature data. However, the following issues should be addressed:
The captions in fig. 1 are very hard to read. Please, correct.
For better understanding, equation (2) should be redone. From its present version, it is not clear that "Oxygen" means an oxygen molecule (O2).
On page 9, the numbering of equations starts with (1), although equations 1 and 2 were already given above (pp. 6 and 7). Despite the fact that on pages 6 and 7 the equations are chemical, and on page 9 the equations are mathematical, they are should be drawn uniformly and, accordingly, the numbering should be continuous.
It is not clear why in equation (2) on page 9, the multiplication are given in different fashion like in the rest of the text.
The text is not free from misprints. For example, reference [22] on p. 6 is given in upper case; in line 449 "materials[1]" or line 384 "m-3[78]", the spaces are missing, etc.
The above inaccuracies spoil the overall impression from the article.
In addition, the review completely lacks information about the effect of nanomaterials and nanocomposites on the performance of bioelectrochemical systems. Meanwhile, it is known that this direction is intensively developed over the last years, for example, see https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780323904049/advanced-nanomaterials-and-nanocomposites-for-bioelectrochemical-systems#book-description.
Author Response
We thank you to the reviewer for your valuable comments.
The manuscript is revised as per the reviewer's comments.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have corrected and improved some parts of the text, but still, when reading it, one does not have the impression that it is a review article. And to write a review article, it is necessary to state the research methodology, and even more to mention in the title that it is a review article Title - a Review
Spell check required.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable comments. Please find the attached "Answer to comments" file
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
