X-ray computed tomography of packed bed chromatography columns for three dimensional imaging and analysis

Department of Biochemical Engineering, University College London | Pall Life Sciences, Portsmouth | Electrochemical Innovation Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London

Physical characteristics critical to chromatography including geometric porosity and tortuosity within the packed column were analysed based upon three dimensional reconstructions of bed structure in-situ. Image acquisition was performed using two X-ray computed tomography systems, with optimisation of column imaging performed for each sample in order to produce three dimensional representations of packed beds at 3 μm resolution.