Jan Andre Jozef Schutyser

The Isolation of Proteins from Whey with a New Strongly Acidic Silica-Based Ion Exchanger

Abstract A new type of strongly acidic ion exchanger based on macroporous silica coated with a thin layer of hydrophilic copolymer with sulphonic acid groups has been evaluated. The coating is crosslinked and covalently linked to the silica surface via diol groups. The performance for isolation of proteins from whey of the new ion exchanger and Spherosil S were compared using both batchwise adsorption and column operations with reconstituted whey. Higher breakthrough capacities were observed for the new ion exchanger than for Spherosil S. Excellent column operational lifetimes were found for the new product. A procedure is described to restore the original adsorption capacity of fouled columns.