Novel membranes that involve the immobilization of Reactive Red 120 or Reactive Brown 10 as dye ligands
were prepared. These were used in the purification of papain from papaya powder extracts. Papain
adsorption capacities for the Red 120 and Brown 10 membraneswere 143.6 mg/g and 107.3 mg/g, respectively.
The effectiveness of adsorptionwas demonstrated by Freundlich isotherm proficiency. The enzyme
was eluted from the respective dye membranes using 1.0M NaCl at pH 6.0 and yields of over 80% were
found for the Red 120–CS (chitosan)–nylon membrane whereas only a 50% recovery was possible using
the Brown 10–CS–nylon membranes. It is concluded that Red 120–CS–nylon membranes could play an
active role in the separation and purification of papain from crude extracts. This system has the potential
to be developed for the commercial isolation of the protein.