Abstract

Niyi Rufai Samuel

The study investigated the adsorption capacities of bovine serum albumin (BSA), ovalbumin (OVA) and mucin (MUC) onto titanium dioxide, alumina and activated carbon, for the purpose of investigating the optimum conditions of pH and cations concentration of white wine required for the haze removal process. The results showed that the amounts of adsorbed OVA and BSA onto the three adsorbents were 1.32 ± 0.73 and 1.20 ± 0.46 times higher than the amount of MUC adsorbed onto the three adsorbents respectively. The amount of the proteins adsorbed from white wine model solution onto the various adsorbents increased by 6.25 ± 0.04 times as protein concentration is increased from 1.0 to 5.0 mg/mL. The percentage of adsorbed proteins increased between 12 to 16% following suspension of 50 mg adsorbent treated with calcium or magnesium ions in the proteins solutions. Amount of the proteins adsorbed to untreated TiO2 at pH 3.0 and 7.0 were not different, however, at pH 7.0 pre-treatment of TiO2 with calcium ion increased the adsorption significantly (p < 0.05). The optimization of the amounts of inherent proteins of wine solution adsorbed is an indicator of the efficient design of the sorption treatment plant for the haze removal process.