Chromatography Forum

In short; How do you get rid of old columns?

I've had a site search and couldn't see a satisfactory answer, so this maybe a little repetative.

I have a number of old columns passed to me from retired researchers and a closed department. Those that have been in good enough condition for reuse, I am using, but the older columns are due for scrapping and disposal. I do not intend to strip the columns and repack as there are too many and the historys of the columns are unknown - they really are ready for disposal.

I have seen some suggestions of returning to the original supplier, but with the age of some of the columns, the original supplier has since gone under.

What methods do others us, and where does the (UK) law stand on the disposal of columns?

Thanks in advance.

AStave:

Speaking as a column manufacturer:

I can't speak for the UK regarding disposal laws, but it seems to me that throwing it out with the trash amounts to throwing out a chunk of stainless steel. That's innocuous compared with a lot of stuff that ends up in landfills. Absent liquid being pumped in at high pressure, it seems improbable that any of the contents will get out.

Regarding the prospective return of the column to the manufacturer: No manufacturer wants a column back! First of all, unpacking and cleaning a column would involve a fair amount of labor that would cost more than the replacement cost of the parts. A manufacturer can buy the tube, end fittings and frits for a conventional column at a cost of about US$ 30-35 if he buys on a large scale. Second, the stress of column packing deforms the metal parts. Once the end fittings have been removed, you have to put them back on more tightly than before in order to insure against leakage, and even then I wouldn't want to do it if it could be avoided. Some column manufacturers have offered a modest discount for return of a used column that could be applied toward the purchase of a new column. I'm sure that they threw the old column in the trash; the offer was merely a sales gimmick to encourage repeat business.

I occasionally use old HPLC columns as a cheap source of stainless tube for home made GC hardware.

Peter

Our uniquely designed hardware cost us less than $10 . :
http://www.sielc.com/Column_Hardware_Analytical.html

People don't want to return our hardware because they can use it as a part of home decoration

use it for staking your tomatoes in the garden

Hello friend in my case I would find better use of those columns, may give you the tetst of column efficiency proposed by the manufacturer and continue working with those that meet this test or you could use to repair other columns like this:

1) as filler.

2) for damaged or ostruidas renplazar chips.

3) to replace the heads of columns, in some cases it has happened that some analyst is broken a screw heads and it is necessary to replace not discarded.

this if you really do not have a good budget to buy column.

Also do you donate to universities that have careers where they can be useful for practical use in laboratories.

and finally if you do not find them send me a your garbage here ami if I gain I could put to better use than throwing them away. I pay shipping.