Preparation, characterization and adsorption behavior of tannin-modified poly(glycidylmethacrylate)-grafted zirconium oxide-densified cellulose for the selective separation of bovine serum albumin

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is one of the major constituents of blood plasma and its recovery is a significantly useful subject for biomedical applications. In this study, a novel adsorbent, tannin-modified poly(glycidylmethacrylate)-grafted zirconium oxide-densified cellulose (TMPGZDC) was synthesized by graft copolymerization reaction of glycidylmethacrylate onto zirconium oxide-densified cellulose (ZDC) in the presence of N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide as cross-linker followed by tannin immobilization. The adsorbent was characterized using TG, XRD, SEM/EDS, FTIR and fluorescence analyses. The efficiency of the TMPGZDC to adsorb BSA from aqueous solutions was studied at different optimized conditions. The optimum pH for maximum adsorption was found to be 4.8 with the adsorption percentage of 97.8% for an initial concentration of 100 mg/L. Equilibrium was achieved within 30 min. The kinetic data were found to follow pseudo-first-order model which is based on solid capacity. The well agreement of equilibrium data with Langmuir isotherm and Redlich–Peterson isotherm models confirms the monolayer coverage of BSA onto TMPGZDC surface and the maximum adsorption capacity at 30 °C was found to be 93.11 mg/g. Thermodynamic study revealed an exothermic adsorption process. TMPGZDC was found to be efficient in the selective adsorption of proteins. Spent adsorbent was effectively degenerated with 0.1 M NaCl. The present investigation shows that TMPGZDC is a promising adsorbent for the recovery of BSA from aqueous solutions and protein mixtures.

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► A novel adsorbent, tannin-modified poly(glycidylmethacrylate)-grafted zirconium oxide-densified cellulose (TMPGZDC) was synthesized.
► Adsorbent was characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM, TG and fluorescence analyzers.
► Adsorption characteristics of bovine serum albumin (BSA) onto TMPGZDC were investigated under different optimized conditions.
► TMPGZDC exhibits significant adsorption potential in the recovery of BSA from aqueous solutions and protein mixtures.
► Regeneration of the spent adsorbent for several cycles was possible with 0.1 M NaCl.