The study on optimization issues for magnetic separation by magnetic chromatography

The magnetic chromatography is a very useful system for an ion and/or fine magnetic particle separation because it has strong magnetic field gradients even in a very narrow flow channel. We have not only developed the magnetic chromatography system to separate the fine particles and ions, but also the numerical analysis code based on the fluid dynamics and electromagnetism to investigate the separating characteristics and to optimize design of magnetic column. In this study, the simple experiments using a superconducting magnet with a large room-temperature-bore and a micro-scale magnetic column consisting of ferromagnetic wires were carried out to understand the ions separation. The cobalt chloride (CoCl₂) and the nickel sulfate (NiSO₄) were used as ions, and the magnetic field and length of magnetic column were used as a parameter in an experiment and an analysis. It can be expected that the ion mobility of a single and complex are quite different, and the ability of the separation will be improved by increasing the column length without external magnetic field.