Preparation of Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch Hydrolysate
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The Authors submitted a paper on hydrothermal pre-treatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of oil palm empty fruit bunch. The paper describes the possible biomass pre-treatment operations prior to e.g. its fermentation. Thus, the proposed paper is suitable for the selected journal. The manuscript is concise and written in accessible form. My comments for its improvement are as follows:
- I suggest to clarify the aim of the manuscript in the perspective of its novelty, both in the Abstract and Introduction.
- Introduction, L 48: please re-write the sentence “…biomass is processed in three steps…”.
- Introduction, L52: please add at least few references on examples of enzymes used. Try to cite possibly fresh references.
- Introduction, L54-55: also provide some examples, based on recent literature references.
- Introduction: in general, the Authors should present the novelty of this study in the perspective of more literature references (e.g. DOI: 1016/j.biortech.2020.124631, DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144429, DOI: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2020.105691).
- Section 3.1.: Please justify the range of temperatures used.
- Section 3.2. – 3.4.: Please discuss and compare the obtained results with similar reference studies, regarding similar biomass types.
- Conclusions: Please mention and underline the novelty of this study as well as propose future directions of research in the field of biomass pre-treatment.
Author Response
Please confirm the attachment file.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper is well structured, has an average significant and novelty.The topic covered is absolutely interesting. The aim of the work is very interesting, the introduction is complete and updated on the topic. The results are very clear.The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments
presented addressing the main question that are posed.
Author Response
Please confirm the attachment file.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper may now be accepted for publication in Fermentation Journal.
