Design and Optimization of a Mixed-Flow Drying Chamber for Tiger Nuts Based on CFD-DEM Heat and Mass Transfer Model

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Must be improved.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript and for your professional comments on our manuscript. We did our best to make changes to our manuscript. These changes will not affect the main content and framework of the paper. We have corrected the English grammar of the manuscript and have not listed the changes, but have marked them in red in the revised manuscript.  Our response to your comment is attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Agriculture-2914057

Design and optimization of mixed-flow drying chamber for tiger nuts based on EDM-CFD heat and mass transfer model

Abstract section:

1-Please, improve this sentence: Aiming at the uneven distribution of airflow in the grain layer inside the drying chamber of traditional mixed-flow dryer

2-Please improve this paragraph: With the increase of transverse distance the consistency of moisture content distribution increases first and then decreases, the flow rate of tiger nuts gradually increases when discharging grain; with the increase of longitudinal distance the rate of moisture content decrease gradually decreases.

3-I suggest the incorporation of the objective at the begginig of the abstract. The reader needs to know the content of the article.

Introduction section

4-Line 59 and 60: there is a error in the wording of a sentence

Materials and Methods

5- Line 107: Definitions of some parameters are missing e.g. E, beta, R

6-Line 125-128: please improve the description of the parameters

7-Add references about the balance equations and the estimation of pressure, diffusion coefficient, etc. For example in line 146 you state the equality of energy and mass transfer dimensionless numbers. You have to provide a bibliographical reference-

8-Line 174: why did they remove the term thermal conductivity from the balance? Please, explain this assumption

9-Revise line 179.

10-Line 242 Rsc is…. parameter (singular).

11-Line 262: cartooning is not used

12-Table 2 and 3 are not complete. Please add the references of the selected properties and parameters

Results

13-ANOVA method has to be included in a separated section in Materials and Methods.

14- You explain that The ANOVA results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the experimental and simulated results (P>0.01), as shown in Tables 4 and 5.

But I can observe significant differences between the experimental and simulated results in the figure 8. Revise

15-Figure 10: I unsderstand that each experimental group has a different value of change of moisture. But Why do you obtain different values from simulation?

16-Line 469: I do not understand this conclusion

17-Line 484: replace too high phenomenon

18- Line 553: replace big

I think the authors need to check the English Grammar of the whole manuscript.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

I think the authors need to check the English Grammar of the whole manuscript.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript and for your professional comments on our manuscript. We did our best to make changes to our manuscript. These changes will not affect the main content and framework of the paper. We have corrected the English grammar of the manuscript and have not listed the changes, but have marked them in red in the revised manuscript.  Our response to your comment is attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper deals with simulations of different conditions for the drying of cyperus esculentus tubers with emphasis on the modeling of heat and mass transfer in the process.

The paper is interesting and well organized, however, there is room for improvement:

- The title mentions only tiger nuts, however, the scientific name (Cyperus esculentus L.) should be included at least once and then use its common name.

- When referring to EDM-CFD, the full concepts could be written first and then the abbreviations could be used.

- If possible, use corporate e-mail addresses instead of personal e-mail addresses.

- In the summary it is not clear what you mean by poor consistency of moisture content, is this value very high, low? 

In the introduction you talk about a new type of oilseed? it is necessary to clarify this?

In l34 it talks about natural drying, is this a solar drying?

In several parts of the document abbreviations are used, which are not necessarily obvious, it would be good to define them beforehand.

In l112 fluent is mentioned, does it refer to the software?

Throughout the document several mathematical models are mentioned, but no reference to documents is made.

In l177, seeds N°1 is mentioned, what does No1 refer to, is it a quality category, caliber? On the other hand, is there any characteristic that allows to standardize and reproduce the experiment?

See if it is possible to improve the presentation of table 1 by placing the values of the standard deviation next to the values of the measurements.

In l197 Specifically what software do you mean by that? it needs to be clarified.

In fig2 would it be worthwhile to place the dimensions?

In l225 you refer to Danish and Swedish machines, could you please expand the information to understand what you are referring to and what would be the differences between these two?

In l328 a local standard is mentioned, what is the validity and if you could describe a little more about the determination?

L333-l341 is this paragraph really necessary?

What do you mean by this decontamination in l364?

Evaluate what is the contribution and if it is really necessary to place figure 7.

Regarding the statistical analysis, this information is not included in the materials and methods section. Likewise what is specified in l404.

L433 - l440 is really necessary?

In the discussion there are no references to other works with similar results, this could enrich the discussion.

Review the velocity scales in figure 14.

Review the humidity scale in figure 16.

The conclusion can be summarized and at the end add a paragraph on its possible practical applications.

Review L726 Patents

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking the time to review this manuscript and for your professional comments on our manuscript. We did our best to make changes to our manuscript. These changes will not affect the main content and framework of the paper. We have corrected the English grammar of the manuscript and have not listed the changes, but have marked them in red in the revised manuscript.  Our response to your comment is attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript has been improved, so it can be accepted for publication. However, there some grammatical errors that must be carefully revised.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Must be revised carefully.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to review the manuscript and give professional comments on our manuscript. We give the manuscript a complete grammatical check. We have corrected the grammar of the manuscript on the basis of the last revision. And marked in red in the revised manuscript. These changes will not affect the main content and framework of the paper. We greatly appreciate your advice and attention.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have responded satisfactorily to my suggestions and recommendations, which have improved the document considerably. 

I would only ask if it is possible to improve the quality of the image in Figure 8.

I recommend that it be accepted in its current version.

Author Response

Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule to review the manuscript and give professional comments on our manuscript. We have changed Figure 8 in the manuscript to make its picture quality better. We greatly appreciate your advice and attention.