Helium carrier gas is known to have contamination that affects instrument performance. Traditional, commercial-off-the-shelf purification systems (ambient and heated getter) are only capable of removing trace amounts of contaminants and certain non-condensable gases. Specifically: argon, neon, krypton, and xenon or not removed from heated getter systems.

The ASTG cryogenic purification system is designed using a specific load of high gain amorphous zeolites, capable of withholding these gases when refrigerated to liquid nitrogen temperatures.The physical adsorption is reversable when the purifier cartridges are removed from the refrigerant, warmed under gas and vacuum abated.Two vessels are used in-line for bulk and trim purification in one purifier cartridge. There are two cartridges installed in parallel such that bypass valving will allow one cartridge to operated while another cartridge is in standby or removed for regeneration.