Purification of lysozyme from chicken egg white using diatom frustules

•AQ1 diatom frustules were advantageously adopted for lysozyme purification from chicken egg white.•The surface area and cation exchange capacity of AQ1 frustules were about 400 m2/g and 140 μmol/mL.•Through batch purification, the lysozyme recovery was 80–89% with a purity of 90–98% by AQ1 frustules.•In flow-through mode, the lysozyme purity could be notably increased to 99%. A nontoxic chromatographic matrix, with low cost and high adsorption capacity, is always a major goal for therapeutic protein purification. In this study, the frustules from two cultured diatoms, Nitzschia bilobata (AQ1) and Psammodictyon panduriforme (NP), were investigated as cation exchange materials for lysozyme purification from chicken egg white. The surface area and cation exchange capacity of frustules were about 400 m2/g and 140 μmol/mL for AQ1, 390 m2/g and 130 µmol/mL for NP. The optimal pH was 9 for adsorption. Through batch purification, the lysozyme recovery was 86% with a purity of 95% by AQ1 frustules, which was higher than that by NP frustules (82% with a purity of 90%). In the flow-through system, the purity using AQ1 frustules notably increased to 99%, higher than the result of 91% using NP frustules. Diatom frustules from AQ1 are more effective and could be an alternative chromatographic matrix for lysozyme purification.