Chemical Engineering Science, Vol.57, No.4, 607-615, 2002
Solids motion in flowing froths
Flotation is a widely used process within the minerals processing industry, as well as being used for water treatment and de-inking of recycled paper. The froth phase and its role in the separation achieved is as yet ill understood. A fundamentally based model of the behaviour of solids within a flowing froth allows for a fuller understanding of the froth phase of flotation vessels and process optimisation. This paper outlines a model for the motion of solids within a flowing froth. It builds on earlier work on the modelling of bubble and liquid motion within a flowing froth and includes all the effects of same phenomena that effect liquid motion, as well as including the effect of solids concentrations on liquid motion. The solids are divided into two classes for the purposes of modelling, namely the attached material, which follows the bubbles, and the unattached material, which mainly follows the liquid. but can move relative to the water by means of hindered settling and geometric and Plateau border dispersion. The attached material consists of hydrophobic particles, while the unattached material can consist of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic particles. Attached particles can become unattached due to coalescence or bursting. Results from simulations are shown to illustrate the movement and concentration of the solids from the pulp-froth interface to the upper, bursting surface and overflowing the weir.