Effect of Polyethylene Glycol Treatment on Acetic Acid Emissions from Wood
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this work, authors study the volatile organic molecules (VOCs) emissions from PEG consolidated archaeological wooden artifacts, the Mary Rose marine ship and PEG treated wood by solid-phase-micro-extraction. The authors presented so valuable data for preservation and exhibition of wooden artifacts. I recommend some revisions for enhancing this manuscript.
1) Authors used the headspace sample vials to collect VOCs emissions from sound wood 1-4, but used Tedlar sample bags for archaeological artefacts 1-4. This could cause differed gas feed ratio for two kinds of measured samples and further result in a questioned comparison in Figure 2.
2) It is better to provide other VOCs emission results, not only the acetic acids, to prove the postulation about the emission barrier of PEG.
3) “Whilst this factor could partially explain why PEG treated sound wood has lower acetic acid emissions, due to the wood being recently washed during treatment, it cannot explain why additional washing of PEG treated wood increases acetic acid emissions.” Increased acetic acid emissions may be the result of PEG removal during washing. PEG 600 and lower molecules have a good water soluble ability.
4) Please provide the sizes of archaeological samples. It would be better to understand the VOCs emissions and the corrosion experiments.
Author Response
Thank you for your comments. I have provided a point-by-point response - please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear Authors,
I have read the manuscript titled "Effect of Polyethylene Glycol Treatment on Acetic Acid emissions from Wood". In my opinion, the manuscript is nicely written and mostly I had just additional questions, which can be found in the attached document. There are also some suggestions for you to consider.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Thank you for your comments. I have provided a point-by-point response - please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
