Lithium in a Sustainable Circular Economy: A Comprehensive Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This work provides a comprehensive review on the lithium recovery. All information is up to date and meaningful for researchers in related fields. I would suggest the authors add more charts/figures to do data visualization. This could help readers better understand the content.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

We thank the reviewer for careful reading of the manuscript and constructive comments for the manuscript. We have taken the comments on board to improve and clarify the manuscript. In the following, we highlight general concerns of reviewer that were common and our effort to address these concerns.

Reviewer 1

This work provides a comprehensive review on the lithium recovery. All information is up to date and meaningful for researchers in related fields. I would suggest the authors add more charts/figures to do data visualization. This could help readers better understand the content.

Responses: Noted and addressed. Three graphs were added based on information extracted i.e. one in chapter 2.1.2 and two in chapter 2.3.

• CHAPTER 2.1.2 Global availability

• CHAPTER 2.3. Lithium applications demand and economic perspective

Once again, we thank your insightful comments on this manuscript as these comments led us to an improvement of the work.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The topic of the paper is interesting to the readers, but I recommend an extensive review of the language and the style of the manuscript. Some of the paragraphs are very difficult to understand.

I also recommend the inclusion of some waste sources as alternative to Li extraction, as many papers have been published recently about that topic, and is relevant to the topic of the present manuscript.

Please review the chemical formulas, some of them are not correct.

Author Response

We thank the reviewer for careful reading of the manuscript and constructive comments for the manuscript. We have taken the comments on board to improve and clarify the manuscript. In the following, we highlight general concerns of reviewer that were common and our effort to address these concerns.

The topic of the paper is interesting to the readers, but I recommend an extensive review of the language and the style of the manuscript. Some of the paragraphs are very difficult to understand.

Responses:  Noted with many thanks. We have sent to English check under MDPI service.

I also recommend the inclusion of some waste sources as alternative to Li extraction, as many papers have been published recently about that topic, and is relevant to the topic of the present manuscript.

Responses:  Noted with addressed. Chapter 2.1.1 was added ''Waste a new source of lithium''. (It is added in manuscript and also here - APPENDIX 1).

Please review the chemical formulas, some of them are not correct.

Responses:  Noted with addressed.

Once again, we thank your insightful comments on this manuscript as these comments led us to an improvement of the work.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

In this manuscript, authors summarized a review about metal lithium including lithium resources in all world, global availability, lithium applications and approaches for lithium recovery as well as challenges. This review is very significant and interesting, I would like to recommend this for publication in Processes after minor revision.

1. Add the relative content of metal lithium battery in this manuscript and relative references, because metal lithium battery is a very important part for use of lithium.

2. I would like to suggest author  to add the contents about reusability of lithium.

3. There are many grammar errors, which need to be carefully revised.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3 Comments

We thank the reviewer for careful reading of the manuscript and constructive comments for the manuscript. We have taken the comments on board to improve and clarify the manuscript. In the following, we highlight general concerns of reviewer that were common and our effort to address these concerns.

Reviewer 3

In this manuscript, authors summarized a review about metal lithium including lithium resources in all world, global availability, lithium applications and approaches for lithium recovery as well as challenges. This review is very significant and interesting, I would like to recommend this for publication in Processes after minor revision.

Responses:  Many thanks. It is of great honour.

1. Add the relative content of metal lithium battery in this manuscript and relative references, because metal lithium battery is a very important part for use of lithium.

Responses:  Noted with revised. This information was included in Chapter 2.1.1  ''Waste a new source of lithium'' (It is added in manuscript and also here - APPENDIX 1).

2. I would like to suggest author to add the contents about reusability of lithium.

Responses:  Noted with revised. This information was included in Chapter 2.1.1  ''Waste a new source of lithium'' (It is added in manuscript and also here - APPENDIX 1).

3. There are many grammar errors, which need to be carefully revised.

Responses:  Noted with many thanks. We have sent to English check under MDPI service.

Once again, we thank your insightful comments on this manuscript as these comments led us to an improvement of the work.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript has been improved, and I recommend publication in the current form.