In a hydraulic wash column the solid crystals are separated from the mother liquor by filtration in the top section of the column. Remaining impurities are removed via countercurrent washing of the crystals in the bottom section. Since compressibility limits the capacity of a wash column, this phenomenon needs to be quantified and modeled rigorously. The compressibility of the bed was determined from the porosity profile and the liquid-pressure profile inside the wash column. The porosity of the bed decreases from 0.65 to 0.3 during transport of the bed. This is associated with a decrease in local bed permeability by a factor of 10. The compressibility of the bed, therefore, partly explains the large ratio between the average permeability above and below the wash front. Compressibihiy coefficients make it possible to relate the compressive stress to the porosity and permeability in the top section of the bed. These coefficients are, therefore, incorporated in a model to successfully predict the capacity of a wash column with a compressible bed.