Adhesion between nanobubbles and fine cassiterite particles

Abstract

Adhesion is an important process of particle-bubble interaction in fine particle (−10 μm) flotation. This paper studied the adhesion process and mechanism between nanobubbles and fine cassiterite particles by using a high-speed camera, atomic force microscope (AFM), adsorption capacity tests, and induction time tests. After being pretreated with nanobubbles (NBs) water, fine cassiterite particles flotation tests were carried out using caprylhydroxamic acid (CHA) as a collector. The results showed that NBs can improve the recovery and flotation rate of fine cassiterite while decreasing the collector dosage. The adsorption capacity test indicated that the cassiterite treated with NBs had lower demand for collector concentration. The AFM imaging results further demonstrate that NBs could reduce the adsorption of CHA on the surface of minerals. Since NBs played a part of the role of collector, it can improve the flotation effect while reducing the amount of collector. The induction time test and the high-speed camera observation test showed that NBs promoted the attachment between bubbles and cassiterite particles. On the other hand, NBs agglomerate cassiterite particles, increasing the probability of particles colliding with bubbles.