Investigation of protein adsorption performance of Ni2+‐attached diatomite particles embedded in composite monolithic cryogels

Abstract As a low‐cost natural adsorbent, diatomite (DA) (2 μm) has several advantages including high surface area, chemical reactivity, hydrophilicity and lack of toxicity. In this study, the protein adsorption performance of supermacroporous composite cryogels embedded with Ni 2+ ‐attached DA particles (Ni 2+ ‐ADAPs) was investigated. Supermacroporous poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA)‐based monolithic composite cryogel column embedded with Ni 2+ ‐ADAPs was prepared by radical cryo‐copolymerization of 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with N,N ′‐methylene‐ bis ‐acrylamide (MBAAm) as cross‐linker directly in a plastic syringe for affinity purification of human serum albumin (HSA) both from aqueous solutions and human serum. The chemical composition and surface area of DA was determined by XRF and BET method, respectively. The characterization of composite cryogel was investigated by SEM. The effect of pH, and embedded Ni 2+ ‐ADAPs amount, initial HSA concentration, temperature and flow rate on adsorption were studied. The maximum amount of HSA adsorption from aqueous solution at pH 8.0 phosphate buffer was very high (485.15 mg/g DA). It was observed that HSA could be repeatedly adsorbed and desorbed to the embedded Ni 2+ ‐ADAPs in poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate) composite cryogel without significant loss of adsorption capacity. The efficiency of albumin adsorption from human serum before and after albumin adsorption was also investigated with SDS–PAGE analyses.