A Study of the Adsorption and Removal of Sb(III) from Aqueous Solution by Fe(III) Modified Proteus cibarius with Mechanistic Insights Using Response Surface Methodology
and Andrew Hursthouse 1,2Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In my opinion the submitted work entitled „The study of adsorption and removal of Sb(Ⅲ) from aqueous solution and its mechanism by Fe(Ⅲ) modified Proteus Cibarius with response surface methodology”, after introducing the corrections listed below, may be published.
The authors of the study presented extensive research on adsorption and removal of Sb (III) from an aqueous solution. This work in general is worth attention.
I suggest some small corrections as enumerated below.
-In Section 2.4.4. The mechanism of FMPAs adsorbing Sb (Ⅲ) in water, line 334, there is no item labelled a), you should add one or remove b).
- In conclusions, the authors of the paper wrote that FMPAs have potential application value. Supplementing the work with a description of an application with real samples would enrich the work. Moreover, the authors of the publication should compare their results regarding the adsorption and removal of Sb (Ⅲ) from aqueous solution with other research/techniques as reported by other authors, especially for recovery rates and LOD.
- Please correct formatting (“orphans and widows”) and typos (such as “dicussiono”).
-Corrections of the “literature” list:
[1] The authors give only the first page, it should be supplemented with the last page: 125-134 [3] The authors give only the year of publication, this should be supplemented with data “151: 326-42”
[13] The authors provide only the year of publication, this should be supplemented with data “2019; 75: 14-39”
[14] The authors provide only the year of publication, this should be supplemented with data “2019; 359: 755-64”
[19] The authors provide only the year when the publication was published, this should be supplemented with the following data: “2014; 158: 351-4”
[20] provide full details of the publication
[21] The given literature should be supplemented with full data: Chem. Eng. J. 2012; 183: 172-79
[28] please use abbreviation for nick name
[35] as above
[40] there is “the HAZARD MATER. 2018; 343.”, should be “HAZARD MATER 2018; 5 (343): 36-48”
[41] only initials of the name and surname are given: L FM,; M CJ,; R LF,; J VD .;
Author Response
请参阅附件。
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript can be published after major revision:
- The manuscript needs a thorough revision regarding the typos, language, and grammatical errors (lines 180, 207, 245, …).
- It is better to change “removal rate” to removal efficiency or percentage in line 89 and all throughout the paper.
- As stated in table 1, three levels of initial antimony concentration have been studied (10, 20, 30 mg/l). Please, explain what water sources and what type of effluents have this amount of antimony. Why lower values have not been investigated while the removal of antimony in low concentration is the challenge regarding the fact that the maximum permissible Sb in water is less than 10 µg/l.
- In section 1.1. “Preparation of FMPAs”, provide appropriate details of the used materials such as manufacturer’s name, grade, and the composition of the precursor used for Sb solution preparation.
- In the Conclusion part, it is stated that pH has no significant effect on the Sb adsorption while the authors have not studied the pH in the alkaline range. Have authors done an independent study (not with Box Behnken design) on the effect of pH on adsorption efficiency?
- Please explain in the manuscript that how Proteus Cibarius is modified with Fe(III) and how this modification has improved the performance of Proteus Cibarius.
Author Response
请参阅附件。
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
This work presents the optimisation of the adsorption time, adsorbent dose, pH, temperature and the initial concentration of Sb(Ⅲ). Authors used response surface methodology to optimize this process. The study showed that FMPAs have higher adsorption capacity for Sb(Ⅲ). It is a green adsorbent with great potential for removal of Sb(Ⅲ) from water.
I consider this work is suitable for publication in this Journal after major corrections have been done. Below are my comments.
- Please revise the grammar and style throughout the manuscript as some typos and mistake are present.
- Please correct the numbering of the sections of the manuscript (I. Introduction….).
- References should be described in according with the journal requests.
- Why adsorbent dose 3430 mg/L was selected to study in this work?
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript can be published in Processes, however, the following questions need to be answered:
- The authors have emphasized the modification of Proteus Cibarius with Fe(III), so they need to demonstrate what effect this modification has had on the Sb removal efficiency. Have you done any experiments before and after modification to see the related effect?
- As authors have stated in their response, the pH of the Sb-containing water is close to neutral. Did you measure the pH after adding the adsorbent? What is the effect of adding Fe(III)-modified Proteus Cibarius on the pH of the solution?
Author Response
请参阅附件。
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The revised version of the above manuscript totally fulfils the requests that I raised in my reviewer’s report: for this reason, I propose to accept it without any further correction to be published in Processes.
Author Response
Reply: Thank you very much for your affirmation of our research.
