Hydrophobicity of Benzene-Based Surfactants and Its Effect on Bubble Coalescence Inhibition.

Bubble coalescence plays a critical role in optimizing biological and industrial processes, impacting efficiency in areas such as fermentation, wastewater treatment, and foaming control. While the relationship between chemical structure and bubble coalescence has been thoroughly explored for inorganic ions, limited data exist on organic ions and surfactants, despite their widespread use in these industries. This study addresses this gap by investigating the effects of surfactant hydrophobicity and bubble size on coalescence behavior at a flat air-liquid interface and within a bubble column.

Model for Investigating Relationships between Surfactant Micropollutant Properties and Their Separation from Liquid in a Bubble Column.

The removal of surfactant micropollutants, such as dyes, pharmaceuticals, and proteins, through foam is very important in biotechnology and wastewater treatment. The literature shows that previous models consider mass balances within the foam but not the adsorption dynamics of micropollutant surfactants on bubble surfaces in the liquid solution. Thus, the main objective of this work is to examine the removal of surfactant micropollutants in a bubble column considering both mass balance and adsorption dynamics to calculate surfactant transport from the liquid bulk to the bubble surface.

Influence of calcination temperatures on lithium deportment by screening hard rock lithium.

Calcination of spodumene is a pre-treatment stage in preparation for sulfation roasting and leaching in lithium recovery. During calcination, α-spodumene (less reactive, monoclinic crystal structure) is converted to β-spodumene (more reactive, tetragonal crystal structure). A third, metastable γ-phase has been identified at lower temperatures than full conversion to the β-phase.

Lithium deportment by size of a calcined spodumene ore.

Calcination of spodumene is used to convert α-spodumene to more reactive β-spodumene, has been shown to greatly impact the physical characteristics of some of the components in the ore. This work investigates the energy efficiency of different grinding circuits used for upgrading the lithium content in the finer fraction of the calcined spodumene ore. The results showed that closed-circuit grinding resulted in 89% lithium recovery of the finest size fractions (- 0.

Effect of calcination on coarse gangue rejection of hard rock lithium ores.

Processing of spodumene ores requires calcination as a compulsory pre-treatment to convert α-spodumene to a more reactive β-spodumene phase. This transformation takes place at an elevated temperature of above 900 °C and results in a 30% volumetric expansion of the mineral and the product having highly altered physical properties. This work examines these induced properties and the effect of calcination on lithium grade deportment with particle size.

The Stefan-Reynolds Model and the Modified Stefan-Reynolds Model for Studying Bubble-Particle Attachment Interactions in the Context of Flotation.

Bubble-particle attachment is the key step for successful flotation. Modeling of attachment interactions between air bubbles and particles after their collision can be analyzed using the Stefan-Reynolds model (immobile bubble surfaces) and the modified Stefan-Reynolds model (mobile bubble surfaces). However, these models have been rarely used, and the limitations of these models have not yet been reported.

A review of induction and attachment times of wetting thin films between air bubbles and particles and its relevance in the separation of particles by flotation.

Bubble-particle attachment in water is critical to the separation of particles by flotation which is widely used in the recovery of valuable minerals, the deinking of wastepaper, the water treatment and the oil recovery from tar sands. It involves the thinning and rupture of wetting thin films, and the expansion and relaxation of the gas-liquid-solid contact lines. The time scale of the first two processes is referred to as the induction time, whereas the time scale of the attachment involving all the processes is called the attachment time.