In flotation, bubbles are the transport medium of mineral particles and water. The recovery of fine hydrophilic gangue is related to the recovery of water, which impacts the grade of the concentrate. In the solution (pulp) phase, water is transported as a layer on the bubble surface and as a trailing wake. The amount of water depends on bubble size, gas rate and, it is hypothesized, frother type. / Frothers are surface-active reagents that reduce bubble size by retarding coalescence. To isolate the effect of frother type (chemistry) on water transport from that of bubble size and gas rate an appropriate independent variable had to be established. Bubble surface area flux and gas holdup were proposed and correlated against the overflow rate of water from a bubble column at a given foam depth which was used as a measure of water carrying rate. / Gas holdup is established as the independent variable and it is shown that the common frothers can be grouped into families based on the gas holdup-carrying rate relationship. No relation was found between water carrying rate and bubble surface area flux. Possible reasons are considered.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.83877 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Moyo, Pamela |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Engineering (Department of Mining, Metals and Materials Engineering.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002270804, proquestno: AAIMR22658, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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