(477d) Separation of Free-Flowing Particles

Separation of the components in a granular mixture is a relevant operation in industries that deal with granular powders and it is not a trivial practice especially when it must be achieved by non-invasive methods or when the process should be capable of handling mixtures of a wide variety of properties. In this work, we explore a novel particle separation principle based on spatially varying granular energy such that it provokes the segregation of the components of a free-flowing system. Our experimentally realizable device transports materials from the high energy regions of the flow toward the lower energy regions. The traveling velocity depends on the particle properties, but, for the sake of this paper, we focus on size and density differences. Using Particle Dynamics (PD) simulations we demonstrate particle separation by size or density and explore the critical operational and material parameters that control our degree of separation.