Rate-Based Particle Separation: A Granular ``Chromatograph"

The effective separation of particles is key to numerous processes and industries handling solid materials. By making an analogy to fluids separations, here we describe a ``granular chromatograph'' where particle-wall cohesion leads to ``adsorption'' rates that dictate a particle's traversal down a channel. This adsorption bias leads to differential flow rates of particles that vary in properties, such as size, density, and wetting characteristics. A rate-based separation technique, based on this observation, will be explored.