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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Hydrophobic Salt-modified Nafion for Enzyme Immobilization and Stabilization
Published on: July 11, 2012
Using Natural Waste Material as a Matrix for the Immobilization of Enzymes: Chicken Eggshell Membrane Powder for
1Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas Animales, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias y Pecuarias, Universidad de Chile, Santa Rosa 11735, La Pintana, Santiago, Chile. ekessi@uchile.cl.
Abstract:
Avian eggshell membranes are good candidates as a matrix for immobilization procedures. Chicken eggshell, a waste material available from the poultry industry as a byproduct, is a very safe and cheap raw material. While pieces of eggshell membrane, or even particles from whole eggshell, have been previously used for these purposes, we report here the use of eggshell membrane powder for E. coli β-galactosidase immobilization with glutaraldehyde as cross-linker. A kinetic characterization is provided for eggshell membrane powder-bound enzyme compared to free enzyme. Results show a remarkable similarity between bound and free enzyme and also that the immobilized enzyme is stable and can be reused several times. Moreover, bound enzyme is able to produce glucose from skim milk serum.
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