Aw. Banford et al., INTERPRETATION OF THE EFFECT OF FROTH STRUCTURE ON THE PERFORMANCE OFFROTH FLOTATION USING IMAGE-ANALYSIS, Powder technology, 98(1), 1998, pp. 61-73
The recovery and grades of a coal flotation concentrate are significan
tly dependant on the water content of the overflowing froth. The drain
age of water from the froth is associated with the coalescence and bur
sting of bubbles in the froth. This work was undertaken to investigate
the possibility of regulating the performance of a flotation cell by
using Image Analysis to define a desired bubble size in the concentrat
e, and subsequently to use measured deviations to control bubble coale
scence by the compensating addition of surfactants. The image analysis
was done on a transputer-enhanced Micro Var computer off-line, using
video images of experimental semi-batch runs. Individual runs were don
e using a single surfactant which had to act both as a frother and col
lector, two surfactants 2-ethyl hexanol and Triton X-405 being used. D
ata from the image analysis was interpreted together with experimental
measurements of particle and water recoveries in terms of a previousl
y formulated froth kinetic model. Correlation of the point rates of ov
erflow of dry-mineral-matter-free (dmmf) coal in terms of the model pr
oduced physically plausible parameters. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.
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