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Flotation is animportant process in mining industries. This process employs the bubble andhydrophobic properties of a particle to separate valuable mining particles fromimpurities. The most important phenomenon in determining flotation efficiencyis the bubble-particle interaction; therefore, understanding this phenomenon isvery important. The aim of this research is to study the mechanism ofbubble-particle interactions with and without the addition of a collector. Theexperimental setup consists of a water container, bubble generator, particlefeeding system, and an image capturing system. The water container is made fromtransparent material of a size large enough so that the wall?s effects onbubbles and particles can be neglected. Air bubbles are generated by a bubblegenerator which consists of a small nozzle and programmable syringe pump. Ahigh speed video camera and halogen lamp backlighting system are used as imagecapturing devices. Observation of the images reveals that bubble-particleinteraction follows the stages of bubble-particle collision, particle attachedto the bubble, and particle detached from the bubble. The addition of acollector to the liquid affects the bubble-particle interactions. |
