Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Second Cheese Whey: Microbial Community Response to H2 Addition in a Partially Immobilized Anaerobic Hybrid Reactor
, Antonella Marone 4, Giulia Massini 1, Massimiliano Fenice 2 and Antonella Signorini 1,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This article studied a thermophilic (55°C) anaerobic digestion (AD) performance and the microbial community structure, before and after hydrogen (H2) addition, in a hybrid gas stirred tank reactor (GSTR) implemented with a partial immobilization of the microbial community. A second cheese whey (SCW) was utilized as substrate. The results showed that H2 addition led to a 25% increase of the methane (CH4) production rate while the CH4 content remained unchanged at 55%. The experimental results are interesting and can be published. However, the following should be modified:
- In the abstract, the abbreviations “NGS” and “FISH” appear without explanation. It is difficult for readers not specialized in biological areas to read.
- Many abbreviations appear in the article. An abbreviation list should be given somewhere in the article, maybe after the main text.
- In the denominator of right-hand side of Eq. (3), it should be “H2 in flow rate”. An “in” is missing.
- At the right-hand side of Eq. (2), it should be “r subscript t”, not “rt”.
- At the right-hand side of Eq. (3), it should be “η subscript H2”, not “ηH2”.
- There are many types of units of “L L-1 d-1” in this article, such as “L subscript H2 L subscript r-1 day-1” and various other forms. It is very terrible. The authors should make them be the same.
Author Response
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Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Please address the points that are reported in the attached file.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Please, see the attachment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
