Flotation is an
important process in mining industries. This process employs the bubble and
hydrophobic properties of a particle to separate valuable mining particles from
impurities. The most important phenomenon in determining flotation efficiency
is the bubble-particle interaction; therefore, understanding this phenomenon is
very important. The aim of this research is to study the mechanism of
bubble-particle interactions with and without the addition of a collector. The
experimental setup consists of a water container, bubble generator, particle
feeding system, and an image capturing system. The water container is made from
transparent material of a size large enough so that the wall?s effects on
bubbles and particles can be neglected. Air bubbles are generated by a bubble
generator which consists of a small nozzle and programmable syringe pump. A
high speed video camera and halogen lamp backlighting system are used as image
capturing devices. Observation of the images reveals that bubble-particle
interaction follows the stages of bubble-particle collision, particle attached
to the bubble, and particle detached from the bubble. The addition of a
collector to the liquid affects the bubble-particle interactions.
