Macroscopic and Microscopic Levels of Methylene Blue Adsorption on a Magnetic Bio-Based Adsorbent: In-Depth Study Using Experiments, Advanced Modeling, and Statistical Thermodynamic Analysis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In this work, the authors combined magnetic nanoparticles with aluminosilicates and natural carbohydrate polymers and then produced a class of clean composites that have significant surface areas, high efficiency and a lot of multifunctional chemical adsorption sites. The performance of the produced ANZ/TC/MNPs as a workable and cost-effective adsorbent for extracting MB from solutions was considered. All in all, this interesting piece of work is written in a comprehensible manner and contains convincing data. The results are interesting and consequently deserve to publish in Magnetochemistry after some revision.

Question 1: XRD should provide standard cards for comparison.

Question 2: The writing needs to be polished.

Question 3: Please plot the particle size distribution of Fe₃O₄ according to Figure 4e and Figure 4f, in order to clearly observe the size of the nanoparticles. It is recommended to cite corresponding literature to further demonstrate the impact of the current research works such as Catalysts 2023, 13, 1497； Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy 361 (2025) 124660

Question 4: The author should provide XRD after five consecutive regeneration and repurposing cycles to demonstrate the good crystal structure stability of ANZ/TC/MNPs.

Question 5: The authors should supplement the test of metal ions concentration in the water after the reaction to prove that the catalyst did not cause secondary pollution due to ion leakage.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript, "Macroscopic and microscopic levels of methylene blue adsorption on a magnetic bio-based adsorbent: In-depth study using experiments, advanced modeling, and statistical thermodynamic analysis", presents a study of a new adsorbent for removing methylene blue from water. The new adsorbent is based on magnetic nanoparticles, zeolite, and turmeric. The experiments demonstrate this adsorbent's efficiency in removing MB up to 98%. Also, after 5 cycles it proves to still be efficient. However, the manuscript needs several improvements, as indicated below. 

1. Line 130: Please write the correct form for CuKa radiation, with a symbol for alpha.

2. Line 204: Figure 2 presents a very noisy XRD pattern. Please provide a diffractogram recorded with a longer time and more points. 

3. Please provide the Rietveld refinement analysis of the XRD pattern for NZ/MNPs, with the lattice parameters, and crystal size for both crystalline phases. Also, mention the reference data you used when Rietveld refinement analysis was performed.

4. Line 239: For each of the images in Figure 4 a SAED should be presented to confirm the phases indicated therein. Also, the elemental mapping is missing and would be important for these images.

5. Line 343: "Conditions 2" should be replaced with "Second condition" for uniformity.

6. Line 456: What happens after the third cycle? XRD, TEM, FTIR, and UV-Vis data should be provided for the adsorbent after the third washing process to explain why the efficiency is dropping. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors responded to all my suggestions.