Attachment of colloidal particles to a fluidic interface – application to the flotation process


Attachment of colloidal particles to a fluidic interface – application to the flotation process

Lecrivain, G.; Hampel, U.; Yamamoto, R.; Taniguchi, T.

The attachment of colloidal particles to the fluidic surface of immersed fluid droplets is central to a wide variety of industrial applications, among which stand out the stabilisation of emulsion (Jansen et al., 2011) and the recovery of minerals by gas bubbles (Albijanic et al., 2010), a process known as flotation. Flotation, which is here of primary interest, is a separation process which plays a major role in the mining industry. It is employed to recover a vast array of different valuable commodities such as rare earth minerals essential to the manufacture of high-tech products. The process essentially involves the attachment of hydrophobised colloidal particles to the surface of rising air bubbles. The commercially valueless hydrophilic material settles down the flotation. Experimental and numerical works dealing with the attachment of spherical and non-spherical particles to a fluidic interface are here presented (See Figure 1). Using an optical microbubble sensor the various microprocesses (Lecrivain et al, 2015) associated with the colloidal attachment of elongated fibres are first investigated. In a second stage direct numerical simulations are used to simulate the dynamics of such particles at a fluidic interface. Unlike spherical colloidal particles, it is found that plate-like particles attach more rapidly to a fluidic interface and are subsequently harder to dislodge when subject to an external force.

  • Contribution to proceedings
    C2E – Colloids and Complex fluids for Energies / Systems understanding: From preparation to process design, 04.-06.12.2017, Rueil-Malmaison, France
    Proceedings of C2E

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Publ.-Id: 27663