Adsorption applications of unmodified geothermal silica

•Unmodified geothermal silica is being used as a chromatographic material.•The process requires no additional chemicals.•A natural protein, phycocyanin, was extracted from blue-green algae.•A protein purity level (absorbance ratio 620nm/280nm) of 2.0 was obtained.•A byproduct of geothermal power pla...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geothermics 2014-04, Vol.50, p.30-34
Main Authors: Svavarsson, Halldor G., Einarsson, Sigurbjorn, Brynjolfsdottir, Asa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adsorption
Chromatographic
Chromatography
Cyanobacteria
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Exact sciences and technology
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Fluids
Geothermal
Geothermal silica
Geothermics
Phycocyanin
Protein separation
Silicon dioxide
Surface chemistry
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Summary:•Unmodified geothermal silica is being used as a chromatographic material.•The process requires no additional chemicals.•A natural protein, phycocyanin, was extracted from blue-green algae.•A protein purity level (absorbance ratio 620nm/280nm) of 2.0 was obtained.•A byproduct of geothermal power plants is being utilized. Silica, precipitated out of geothermal fluid discharged from a geothermal powerplant in Svartsengi on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland, was used as a chromatographic adsorbent to extract blue colored protein, C-phycocyanin, from coccoid blue-green algae. The only supplement used was salt obtained by evaporating the geothermal fluid. Analysis of the silica, using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) adsorption confirmed it has a high specific surface area and is amorphous. Upon adsorption and subsequent elution the purity of the extracted protein, measured as the ratio of the light absorbance of 620 and 280nm, increased from 0.5 to above 2.0. Our results could facilitate utilization of a mostly unused byproduct of geothermal powerplants as chromatographic material.
ISSN:0375-6505
1879-3576
DOI:10.1016/j.geothermics.2013.08.001