Abstract
Flotation initially originated from the field of mineral processing. The importance of this process to the economy of the whole industrial world is considered to be enormous. Since for many years various particulate solids besides minerals have been extracted by using this effective gravity separation method with many interesting applications in the treatment of wastewater, looking for sustainability. Certain significant activities in flotation research were reviewed in the present, with main focus in the contribution of physical chemistry to flotation; i.e. zeta-potential measurements, contact angle etc., including examining the role of bubble and particle size played with regard to the process. Alternative bubble generation methods were examined, such as electro flotation and dissolved-air flotation-the latter technique is mainly intended for water treatment applications.
Highlights
Let us start this chapter by saying that flotation is really an old process: the historian Herodotus in ancient Greece is probably the first person that described a process similar to flotation, in the 5th century B.C., for the separation of gold particles from sand using fatty substances
The results suggested that particles of a given size need to possess a minimum critical contact angle for flotation to occur
It was argued that the problem of processing mineral fine particles poses an immense challenge, due to the relative costs of conventional methods when applied in that case; so, the flotation techniques of dissolved-air flotation and electroflotation were proposed and described, during a scientific meeting with the remarkable title of “Mineral Processing at a Crossroads”-at least for Europe [44]
Summary
Let us start this chapter by saying that flotation is really an old process: the historian Herodotus in ancient Greece is probably the first person that described a process similar to flotation, in the 5th century B.C., for the separation of gold particles from sand using fatty substances. As surface tension, are incorporated in several treatment methods, such as the adsorption of specific chemical agents (termed collectors) to enhance process efficiency, the change of hydrophobicity of a solid particle for the purpose of separation, that is, by the application of flotation etc.
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