Alkaline Extraction of Organomineral Potassium Humate from Coal Mining Waste
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Authors have tried to extract the potassium humate from coal mining waste. The research theme seems interesting. However, following points should be addressed properly to accept the paper
- Novelty of the research is questionable. clearly indicate the novelty of the research compared with the other similar researches
- Explain clearly the scientific interest of your research.
- Discussion for the obtained results are very poor. Give appropriate reasons and suggestions for the obtained results using suitable literatures.
- What are the economical, social and environmental benefits of extracting potassium humate from coal waste.
Author Response
- Novelty of the research is questionable. clearly indicate the novelty of the research compared with the other similar researches
ANSWER: The scientific novelty lies in the use of technogenic resources in the form of coal mining waste for the extraction of organomineral potassium humate.
- Explain clearly the scientific interest of your research.
ANSWER: The scientific interest of the authors is aimed at obtaining organomineral complex compounds used in the agro-industrial sector of the economy.
- Discussion for the obtained results are very poor. Give appropriate reasons and suggestions for the obtained results using suitable literatures.
ANSWER: The relevant justifications and suggestions for the results obtained, using the relevant literature, are given in the text of the manuscript.
- What are the economic, social and environmental benefits of extracting potassium humate from coal waste.
ANSWER: The ecological and socio-economic advantages of using coal mining waste for the extraction of potassium humates is to improve the ecological situation of the Lenger by utilizing these technogenic resources. In addition, Lenger is located in the Turkestan region of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where agriculture is very developed. Melons and cotton crops, fruits and berries are grown here. This region accounts for about 70% of agricultural exports in the CIS and Europe. In this regard, the proposed method of obtaining organomineral potassium humate from coal mining waste would help local farmers and agrarians to improve soil fertility [32], use this product as plant growth stimulants, to relieve plant stress after treatment with pesticides [33], to obtain stable yields [34]. The use of technogenic resources significantly reduces the cost of the resulting product, as a result of which it is very profitable for the agro-industrial complex.
P.S. The authors are immensely grateful for reviewing the manuscript for its improvement. All changes in the text of the manuscript are highlighted in red.
Reviewer 2 Report
The subject of the article is interesting but the article has some deficiencies in presenting the results:
- The paper does not include a map of the researched area;
- The paper does not specify the number of analyses which were perform for each category of analyse;
- The methods of investigation are too briefly presented. For example the scanning speed for the X-ray diffraction analysis is not indicated.
- The analyses performed with SEM (scanning electron microscope) indicates only semi-quantitatively results of the chemical composition;
- Some of the images (figure 2, 3 and 11) are blurred and the not all the captions are in English .
Author Response
The subject of the article is interesting but the article has some deficiencies in presenting the results:
- The paper does not include a map of the researched area;
ANSWER: Map of the location of coal mining waste landfills on the territory of Lenger added (Figure 1).
- - The paper does not specify the number of analyses which were perform for each category of analysis;
ANSWER: The number of analyses to determine the standard deviation is 8. This is indicated in Tables 1 and 6.
- The methods of investigation are too briefly presented. For example the scanning speed for the X-ray diffraction analysis is not indicated.
ANSWER: scanning speed -0.1~100 degrees/min, shooting angle 3-1800Ó¨. The corresponding changes have been made to the text of the manuscript
- - The analyses performed with SEM (scanning electron microscopy) indicates only semiquantitatively results of the chemical composition;
ANSWER: To complement the results of the element-weight analysis performed using SEM, the results of chemical analyses in Tables 1 and 6 have been added.
- Some of the images (figure 2, 3 and 11) are blurred and the not all the captions are in English .
ANSWER: These drawings have been improved in quality, the captions have been translated into English
P.S. The authors are immensely grateful for reviewing the manuscript for its improvement. All changes in the text of the manuscript are highlighted in red.
