Review Reports

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

It is a good scientific work about the use of Cellulose-based Activated Carbon Fiber  to absorbs Acetaldehyde  . I recommend publication after minor revision, because there are some details of the manuscript that could be improved.

Comments:

Authors need to modify the authors name super index according to affiliation numbers The sentence “CACF was used as-received from East China University” needs more explanation (i.e. how CACF has been manufactured)

The equation of the Experimental apparatus section (pag 5) needs be revised  

Author Response

Point 1: Authors need to modify the authors name super index according to affiliation numbers

 

Response 1: We checked the authors name super index according to an affiliation number

 

Point 2: The sentence “CACF was used as-received from East China University” needs more explanation (i.e. how CACF has been manufactured)

 

Response 2: We added more explanation about the synthetic method of CACF following as; “The CACF obtained from East China University has been synthesized as followings. The cellulose polymer fabricated as a felt type was stabilized and carbonized process at 600 ℃ by the spraying of potassium phosphate under the nitrogen atmosphere. After then, it was activated by steam at 800 ℃ to give a micro-porous characteristics and to get the final products.”

 

Point 3: The equation of the Experimental apparatus section (pag 5) needs be revised.  

 

Response 3: We revised and added more explanation about the detecting tube mechanism following as; “The acetaldehyde reacts with hydroxylamine phosphate which liberates phosphorus acid and aldoxime compounds. The liberated phosphoric acid reacts with a base material in the tube to form phosphate and discolors reddish brown. The chemical stoichiometry is
3CH₃CHO + (NH₂OH)₃H₃PO₄ → 3CH₃HC=N-OH + 3H₂O + H₃PO₄
H₃PO₄ + base → phosphate (Discolor).”

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This is experimental research focusing on the removal behavior of low-concentration acetaldehyde using an adsorbent of cellulose-based activated carbon fiber modified by amine functional group. They show an effective removal of the targeted acetaldehyde as optimized functionalized amine contents. The removal mechanism emerged by analyzing two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

The paper is well written and the reported research is sound and important. I recommend publication with the suggestion of adding comments about the possibility of performing simulations as an additional way to confirm the removal mechanism. In particular atomistic simulations proved suitable for cellulose modeling, see for example T. Dumitrica, 115624 Carbohydrate Polymers, doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115624.

 

Author Response

Point 1: The paper is well written and the reported research is sound and important. I recommend publication with the suggestion of adding comments about the possibility of performing simulations as an additional way to confirm the removal mechanism. In particular atomistic simulations proved suitable for cellulose modeling, see for example T. Dumitrica, 115624 Carbohydrate Polymers, doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2019.115624.

 

Response 1: We introduced and added the comments about the possibility of performing simulations as an additional way to confirm the removal mechanism with the suggested reference in the Introduction section.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf