Macroporous chitin affinity membranes for lysozyme separation

Macroporous chitin membranes with high, controlled porosity and good mechanical properties have been prepared using a technique developed in this laboratory based on silica particles as porogen. They were employed for the affinity separation of lysozyme. Chitin membranes (1 mm thickness) can be operated at high fluxes (≥1.1 mL/min/cm2) corresponding to pressure drops ≥2 psi. Their adsorption capacity for lysozyme (∼50 mg/mL membrane) is by an order of magnitude higher than that of the chitin beads employed in column separation. In a binary mixture of lysozyme and ovalbumin, the membranes showed very high selectivity towards lysozyme. The effect of some important operation parameters, such as the flow rates during loading and elution were investigated. Lysozyme of very high purity (>98%) was obtained from a mixture of lysozyme and ovalbumin, and from egg white. The results indicate that the macroporous chitin membranes can be used for the separation, purification, and recovery of lysozyme at large scale. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 56: 610–617, 1997.