Abstract: Continuous multicomponent separation is conducted in a two-dimensional anisotropic separation bed which has different separating properties in at least two directions, Y and X. The carrier fluid flows repeatedly and alternately in directions Y and X through the bed. The mixture is introduced into the flow in the vicinity of one of the corners. The components are collected through multiple outlets. An example of anisotropic bed is alternating layers of dense chromatographic packing with high separating ability and loose packing with low separating ability. Another example of anisotropic bed is tightly packed aligned fibrillar sorbent. Due to anisotropic properties of the bed, the components move along diverging resulting trajectories.