Froth Flotation
Froth flotation is an essential process in ore dressing. Several billion tons of ore are separated into valuable minerals and worthless gangue by flotation every year. But related methods also play an important role in paper recycling, wastewater treatment and, in the future, perhaps in the recycling of electronic waste.
In froth flotation, the material finely ground and suspended in water. Collector surfactants selectively hydrophobize the valuable mineral particles. These then adhere to introduced air bubbles and are carried to the surface. There, a froth is formed which flows off and thus extracts the mineral particles.
Although flotation has been used for more than 100 years, basic processes are not yet understood. With our research, we want to contribute to making flotation processes more resource-efficient and effective.
We focus less on the complete process but rather on key mechanisms, in particular
- The attachment of particles to rising bubbles
- Formation and behavior of microbubbles
- Bubble coalescence
- Particle-bubble interaction in an ultrasonic field
- Flotation of protein and enzymes
- Flotation of microalgae
- Removal of inclusions in liquid metal by flotation
- Flow of the froth
In addition, we are investigating special flotation reactors for specific applications together with industrial partners.