Spontaneous and efficient adsorption of lysozyme from aqueous solutions by naturally polyanion gel beads

•Alginate beads (SA) demonstrated spontaneous and efficient adsorption for lysozyme.•SA has a high adsorption capacity, fast equilibrium, and good reversibility.•The adsorption can be tailored by the content of Ca2 +.•The adsorption is based on a strong electrostatic interaction with lysozyme.•It is convenient, efficient, reliable and environment-friendly to prepare and apply.

In this study, polyanionic alginate gel beads crosslinked by Ca2 + and glutaraldehyde have demonstrated a strong electrostatic interaction with specific proteins. Due to the naturally abundant carboxyl groups, the prepared alginate gel beads exhibited a relatively superior integrated adsorption performance toward lysozyme, including a superior adsorption capacity of 213 mg g− 1, fast adsorption equilibrium within 12 h, good selectivity, and good reversibility. Compared with other protein adsorbents, the as-prepared adsorptive beads have the advantages of excellent adsorption performance, easy to prepare, convenient, efficient, reliable and environment-friendly to apply, which can serve as a more sustainable material in protein separation and purification.

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