Adsorption flotation

Wang, L.K., Wang, M.H.S., and Hoagland, F.M., Reduction of color, odor, humic acid and toxic substances by adsorption, flotation and filtration, Water Treatment, 1, 1-16, 1992. 

It has been suggested the methods of separation involving adherence of particles of different dispersity on bubble surface as a result of adsorption or adhesion, to be named adsorptive-bubble (adsubble) methods [27,28]. The methods of surface separation are termed differently in the different publications in the case of surfactant extraction they are referred to as adsorption flotation, foam flotation, foam fractionation, foam separation or adsorptive accumulation in the case of ion extraction, they are called ion flotation, foam flotation of hydrophobic precipitates, etc. 

Flotation is the term used to describe a process in which the species being separated from the bulk liquid media are insoluble particulates. Froth flotation is another one of the two foam separation processes. It also involves the production of foam in a heterogeneous aqueous system, and has a great deal of potential for the water and wastewater treatment. Froth flotation can be subdivided into at least seven categories (42,43,84), including precipitate flotation, ion flotation, molecular flotation, microflotafion, adsorption flotation, ore flotation, macroflotation, and adsorbing colloid flotation. They are described separately below. 

Adsorption flotation involves the removal of dissolved pollutants by activated carbon in a bubble reactor, and subsequent removal of activated carbon as well as other suspended particles by flotation technique (71). This process was found efficient for removing both dissolved organics and suspended solids from an industrial effluent (72), and for removing the emulsifled oil from water (73). The mechanism of removal has been proposed by Wang (72,73). 

If powdered activated carbons (or other adsorbents) are added to water or wastewater for removing soluble pollutants, the spent carbons are then flocculated and floated by a dissolved air flotation cell (or by an electroflotation cell), in which no foam is produced, the process system is termed nonfoaming adsorption flotation (83). 

Type of flow pattern(s) involved in an adsorptive bubble separation system depends on the type of process used. For example, bubble fractionation involves two-phase (gas-phase and liquid-phase) bubble flow, while solvent sublation involves multiphase bubble flow in their vertical bubble cells. Foam fractionation involves a two-phase bubble flow in the bottom bubble cell, and a two-phase froth flow in the top foam cell. However, all froth flotation processes (i.e., precipitate flotation, ion flotation, molecular flotation, ore flotation, microflotation, adsorption flotation, macroflotation, and adsorbing colloid flotation) involve multiphase bubble flow and multiphase froth flow. 

M. Krofta, L. K. Wang, and H. Boutroy, Development of a New Treatment System Consisting of Adsorption Flotation and Filtration, U.S. Dept, of Commerce, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA, Report No.PB85-209401/AS, 28 pages, October, 1984. 

When PAC is dosed to a DAF system for both adsorption and flotation, the combined process is called adsorption flotation (30,36). 

L. K. Wang, Reduction of Color, Odor, Humic Acid and Toxic Substances by Adsorption, Flotation and Filtration. Annual Meeting of American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Symposium on Design of Adsorption Systems for Pohuhon Control. Philadelphia, PA, 1989. 

Table XI-1 (from Ref. 166) lists the potential-determining ion and its concentration giving zero charge on the mineral. There is a large family of minerals for which hydrogen (or hydroxide) ion is potential determining—oxides, silicates, phosphates, carbonates, and so on. For these, adsorption of surfactant ions is highly pH-dependent. An example is shown in Fig. XI-14. This type of behavior has important applications in flotation and is discussed further in Section XIII-4.

The examples in the preceding section, of the flotation of lead and copper ores by xanthates, was one in which chemical forces predominated in the adsorption of the collector. Flotation processes have been applied to a number of other minerals that are either ionic in type, such as potassium chloride, or are insoluble oxides such as quartz and iron oxide, or ink pigments [needed to be removed in waste paper processing [92]]. In the case of quartz, surfactants such as alkyl amines are used, and the situation is complicated by micelle formation (see next section), which can also occur in the adsorbed layer [93, 94]. 

Other Interaction Processes. The selectivity of flotation reagents in a pulp and their functions depend on their interactions with the mineral phases to be separated, but other physicochemical and hydrodynamic processes also play roles. AH adsorption—desorption phenomena occur at the sohd—hquid interfacial region. Surface processes that influence such adsorptions include activation and depression. Activators and depressants are auxiUary reagents. 

Activators enhance the adsorption of collectors, eg, Ca " in the fatty acid flotation of siUcates at high pH or Cu " in the flotation of sphalerite, ZnS, by sulfohydryl collectors. Depressants, on the other hand, have the opposite effect they hinder the flotation of certain minerals, thus improving selectivity. For example, high pH as well as high sulfide ion concentrations can hinder the flotation of sulfide minerals such as galena (PbS) in the presence of xanthates (ROCSS ). Hence, for a given fixed collector concentration there is a fixed critical pH that defines the transition between flotation and no flotation. This is the basis of the Barsky relationship which can be expressed as [X ]j[OH ] = constant, where [A ] is the xanthate ion concentration in the pulp and [Oi/ ] is the hydroxyl ion concentration indicated by the pH. Similar relationships can be written for sulfide ion, cyanide, or thiocyanate, which act as typical depressants in sulfide flotation systems. 

Soluble Salt Flotation. KCl separation from NaCl and media containing other soluble salts such as MgCl (eg, The Dead Sea works in Israel and Jordan) or insoluble materials such as clays is accompHshed by the flotation of crystals using amines as coUectors. The mechanism of adsorption of amines on soluble salts such as KCl has been shown to be due to the matching of coUector ion size and lattice vacancies (in KCl flotation) as well as surface charges carried by the soflds floated (22). Although cation-type coUectors (eg, amines) are commonly used, the utUity of sulfonates and carboxylates has also been demonstrated in laboratory experiments. 

The most common application of carbon adsorption in municipal water treatment is in the removal of taste and odor compounds. Figure 12 provides an example of a process flow diagram for a municipal water treatment plant. In this example water is pumped from the river into a flotation unit, which is used for the removal of suspended solids such as algae and particulate matter. Dissolved air is the injected under pressure into the basin. This action creates microbubbles which become attached to the suspended solids, causing them to float. This results in a layer of suspended solids on the surface of the water, which is removed using a mechanical skimming technique. Go back to Chapter 8 if you need to refresh your memory on air flotation systems. 

Dobias B (1984) Surfactant Adsorption on Minerals Related to Flotation. 56 91-147 Doi K, Antanaitis BC, Aisen P (1988) The Binuclear Iron Centres of Uteroferrin and the Purple Acid Phosphatases. 70 1-26 Domcke W, see Bradshaw AM (1975) 24 133-170 Dophin D, see Morgan B (1987) 64 115-204... 

Xanthate compounds are widely used as collectors in flotation. Their function is to render the mineral surface hydrophobic and thus facilitate bubble attachment. The adsorption of xanthates onto sulfide minerals occurs via an electrochemical mechanism involving the reduction of oxygen and the anodic adsorption of xanthate. 

Dobids, B. Surfactant Adsorption on Minerals Related to Flotation. Vol. 56, pp. 91-147. 

---