Chromatography column piston seal design

Expanded bed adsorption (EBA) chromatography offers a significant opportunity in process optimisation, providing a single pass operation for the extraction of proteins from crude, particulate containing feed-stock. Unlike traditional chromatography processes, EBA removes the need for separate clarification, concentration and purification. This immediately improves the speed of batch processing and in turn, minimises losses through product degradation that occurs in the traditional multi-stage process.

The challenge facing chromatography column manufacturer Biotechflow, was to design a scalable column that was
economic to produce, providing an adjustable bed with a 1m range within an overall maximum height of 2050mm and a 1m² footprint.

Further design detail challenges centred around a range of elements including disposable inlet and outlets, ultrasound receivers and piston geometry. It was in relation to the piston operation that James Walker became involved in the design stage of the new EBA column.

This technical paper covers the key design elements of the seal and reasoning behind the material choice for seam manufacture.