In the manuscript “NJ-ART-01-2025-000273” entitled “ZIF-8, a hard-to-desorb adsorbent for aromatics”phisochemical properties of AC, ZIF7 and ZIF-8 have been investigated. This manuscript constitutes a significant information to the literature; however, it does not meet the requirements of the New Journal of Chemistry in its current state. A major revision is therefore recommended, and the following points should be taken into consideration.
1) The primary objective of the study was to investigate the integration of BTX with the aforementioned adsorbent. However, the majority of experiments were conducted using toluene alone. The rationale behind the exclusive use of toluene in these experiments warrants further examination. If BTX was to be considered, it would be expected that the remaining BTX compounds would also be incorporated into the experimental setup.
2) The limits for moderate temperature should be defined for the following sentences.
“Activated carbon (AC) is a widely-used adsorbent, but upon moderate temperature increases, it tends to release accumulated VOCs and thereby contribute to air pollution peaks.”
Page 4 Line 60: “A slight increase in temperature can lead to the rapid desorption of VOCs that have accumulated over time, resulting in elevated VOC concentrations in the surrounding air.” The information should be supported by the citation.
3) Page 3 Line 40: SOD abbreviation should be defined in the abstract part.
4) Page 4 Line 46: The number 4, which has been appended to the citation, should be presented in exponential form.
5) Page 8 Line 8: AC abbreviation should be defined in its first used.
6) It is imperative that the experimental section contains a comprehensive delineation of the detection method and their analytical figure of merit for the targeted compounds.
7) Page 9 Line 48: It is imperative to ascertain the rationale behind the initial supplementary file's sequence number being designated as 2, as opposed to the customary 1, within the manuscript. To rectify this discrepancy, it is essential to methodically reorganize the sequence of supplementary files, ensuring congruence with the sequence delineated within the manuscript.
8) The experimental condition such as temperature, sorbent amount, RH, flow rate, concentrations etc. should be presented in the subtitle of the figures.
9) Related graphs such as XRD, FTIR should be presented in the manuscript or supplementary material.
10) Why are the number of sampling points different in some curves in the Figures? For example, the same P/Po values have not been measured for different temperatures in Figure S3b.
11) In order to enhance the clarity and comprehensibility of Table 1, improvements to its presentation are required. Furthermore, it is necessary to ascertain the sensitivity of the method with regard to the targeted compounds. An inconsistency has been observed in the data presented in Table 1, where a value of <0.2 has been assigned to toluene, yet a value of 0.12 has been assigned to benzene. If the detection limit is stated as 0.2, it is essential that the value of 0.12 is also presented as <0.2.
12) It is not possible to define the x-axis name (h/g) as Time in Figures. True notation must be used instead.
13) Why are Figures 3 and Figure 4 placed in the rectangles?
14) The removal performance of an adsorbent can be defined as the capacity to prevent the release of target compounds over an extended period. As illustrated in Figure 3, the optimal toluene filtration performance is observed to be AC > ZIF7 > ZIF8, in that sequence. However, the following assertion is not readily comprehensible.Page 17 Line 13: "The final adsorption capacities of ZIF-7 and ZIF-8 for toluene respectively equal 0.8 mmol g⁻¹ and 1.5 mmol g⁻¹ (Table 1), which highlights that the adsorption capacity of ZIF-8 is nearly double that of ZIF-7."
15) Adsorption and desorption experiments should be described more detailed in experimental part.
16) The blank experiments should be incorporated into Figure 4 using unused sorbents.