{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T20:32:32Z","timestamp":1782937952731,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772150400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["12372250"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["12372250"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["12132015"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["12132015"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004731","name":"Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["LZ24A020002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LZ24A020002"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004731","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Air-induced separation of flexible rod-like particle mixtures in a specific separator is numerically investigated using a coupled Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach. In the separator, the mixture of flexible rod-like particles of different lengths and material densities deposits under the effect of gravity, and a horizontal airflow stream intersects the particle flow, blowing lighter particles in the mixture to translate horizontally and allowing the heavier ones to fall downwards. The model particles represent flexible biomass materials, specifically tobacco and stem particles. The initial packing density of the particle mixture is 8% by volume. The physical mechanism that causes particle segregation is analyzed. Subsequently, parametric studies are performed to examine the effects of some critical parameters on the extent of segregation, including inflow air velocities, initial particle packing density, volume fraction of heavier particles, particle size distribution, and flow field geometry. Finally, a suggestion is proposed to promote particle segregation in such a type of separator.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma19050908","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T14:19:21Z","timestamp":1772720361000},"page":"908","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Separation of Flexible Rod-like Particle Mixtures by Intersecting Air Flow"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0366-6698","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ashiq","family":"Ali","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-5369-4299","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gaoyan","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Design and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0012-4498","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yu","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China"},{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116491","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ces.2021.116491","article-title":"Particle shape-induced axial segregation of binary mixtures of spheres and ellipsoids in a rotating drum","volume":"235","author":"He","year":"2021","journal-title":"Chem. 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