| Abstract: | Flocculation of lysozyme with anionic copolymers of acrylamide, acrylic acid, and sodium styrene sulfonate used as flocculants was performed in pursuit of high flocculation efficiency. Two major factors, pH and ionic strength, are used to investigate the relationship of the flocculation behavior of protein by copolymers and the functional group (–COOH, –NH2, –SO3H) compositions of these copolymers. The protein flocculation can be controlled by adjusting pH. In addition, the various copolymers exhibit differing effects on ionic strength induced protein flocculation. FT-Raman spectroscopy was applied to investigate the mechanism of interaction between protein and copolymer. An attempt was made to understand how the pH and ionic strength change the surface chemical characteristics of protein and copolymers, as well as the relationship between the structure of copolymer and the protein flocculation process. |
