Fine particles surface

WE shall now discuss a subject of great importance to the technology of fine particles—surface energy and the relation it bears to heat produced by particles on adsorption, wetting of particles, and other diverse phenomena which have found practical applications, such as flotation of ores and minerals. Information on this subject is still limited, but sufficient is known to permit explanation of the behavior of particulate matter. 

Irregular large/fine particles Surface fusion and spheronizing effect... 

Earlier on when we described the cutting action of the drill bit we learned about the drilling fluid or mud. The mud cools the bit and also removes the cuttings by carrying them up the hole outside the drill pipe. At the surface the mud runs over a number of moving screens, the shale shakers (Fig. 3.11) which remove the cutting for disposal. The fine particles which pass through the screens are then removed by desanders and desilters, usually hydrocyclones. 

Brunauer and co-workers [129, 130] found values of of 1310, 1180, and 386 ergs/cm for CaO, Ca(OH)2 and tobermorite (a calcium silicate hydrate). Jura and Garland [131] reported a value of 1040 ergs/cm for magnesium oxide. Patterson and coworkers [132] used fractionated sodium chloride particles prepared by a volatilization method to find that the surface contribution to the low-temperature heat capacity varied approximately in proportion to the area determined by gas adsorption. Questions of equilibrium arise in these and adsorption studies on finely divided surfaces as discussed in Section X-3. 

An interesting example of a large specific surface which is wholly external in nature is provided by a dispersed aerosol composed of fine particles free of cracks and fissures. As soon as the aerosol settles out, of course, its particles come into contact with one another and form aggregates but if the particles are spherical, more particularly if the material is hard, the particle-to-particle contacts will be very small in area the interparticulate junctions will then be so weak that many of them will become broken apart during mechanical handling, or be prized open by the film of adsorbate during an adsorption experiment. In favourable cases the flocculated specimen may have so open a structure that it behaves, as far as its adsorptive properties are concerned, as a completely non-porous material. Solids of this kind are of importance because of their relevance to standard adsorption isotherms (cf. Section 2.12) which play a fundamental role in procedures for the evaluation of specific surface area and pore size distribution by adsorption methods. 

Moving-bed percolation systems are used for extraction from many types of ceUular particles such as seeds, beans, and peanuts (see Nuts). In most of these cases organic solvents are used to extract the oils from the particles. Pre-treatment of the seed or nut is usually necessary to increase the number of ceUs exposed to the solvent by increasing the specific surface by flaking or rolling. The oil-rich solvent (or misceUa) solution often contains a small proportion of fine particles which must be removed, as weU as the oil separated from the solvent after leaching. 

Transport Disengaging Height. When the drag and buoyancy forces exerted by the gas on a particle exceed the gravitational and interparticle forces at the surface of the bed, particles ate thrown into the freeboard. The ejected particles can be coarser and more numerous than the saturation carrying capacity of the gas, and some coarse particles and clusters of fines particles fall back into the bed. Some particles also coUect near the wall and fall back into the fluidized bed. 

Aerosol-Based Direct Fluorination. A technology that works on Hter and half-Hter quantities has been introduced (40—42). This new aerosol technique, which functions on principles similar to LaMar direct fluorination (Fig. 5), uses fine aerosol particle surfaces rather than copper filings to maintain a high surface area for direct fluorination. The aerosol direct fluorination technique has been shown to be effective for the synthesis of bicycHc perfluorocarbon such as perfluoroadamantane, perfluoroketones, perfluoroethers, and highly branched perfluorocarbons. 

The characteristics of a powder that determine its apparent density are rather complex, but some general statements with respect to powder variables and their effect on the density of the loose powder can be made. (/) The smaller the particles, the greater the specific surface area of the powder. This increases the friction between the particles and lowers the apparent density but enhances the rate of sintering. (2) Powders having very irregular-shaped particles are usually characterized by a lower apparent density than more regular or spherical ones. This is shown in Table 4 for three different types of copper powders having identical particle size distribution but different particle shape. These data illustrate the decisive influence of particle shape on apparent density. (J) In any mixture of coarse and fine powder particles, an optimum mixture results in maximum apparent density. This optimum mixture is reached when the fine particles fill the voids between the coarse particles. 

Condensation of metal vapors followed by deposition on cooler surfaces yields metal powders as does decomposition of metal hydrides. Vacuum treatment of metal hydrides gives powders of fine particle size. Reaction of a metal haHde and molten magnesium, known as the KroU process, is used for titanium and zirconium. This results in a sponge-like product. 

Tricalcium phosphate, Ca2(P0 2> is formed under high temperatures and is unstable toward reaction with moisture below 100°C. The high temperature mineral whidockite [64418-26-4] although often described as P-tricalcium phosphate, is not pure. Whidockite contains small amounts of iron and magnesium. Commercial tricalcium phosphate prepared by the reaction of phosphoric acid and a hydrated lime slurry consists of amorphous or poody crystalline basic calcium phosphates close to the hydroxyapatite composition and has a Ca/P ratio of approximately 3 2. Because this mole ratio can vary widely (1.3—2.0), free lime, calcium hydroxide, and dicalcium phosphate may be present in variable proportion. The highly insoluble basic calcium phosphates precipitate as fine particles, mosdy less than a few micrometers in diameter. The surface area of precipitated hydroxyapatite is approximately... 

On a chute, higher drag results in lower particle velocity which can be accentuated by stratification on the chute surface because of the sifting mechanism. Concentrations of smaller particles close to the chute surface and larger particles at the top of the bed of material, combined with the typically higher frictional drag of finer particles, often result in a concentration of fine particles close to the end of the chute, and coarse particles farther away. This can be particulady detrimental if portions of the pile go to different processing points, as is often the case with multiple outiet bins or bins with vertical partitions. 

Crushers and Roller Mills. In this equipment group, stress is applied by either cmshing single particles or a bed of particles between two sohd surfaces. In general, most machines are used for coarse and medium-size reduction, with the exception of the high pressure roUer mill which can achieve extremely fine particle distributions. 

Most surface waters contain varying amounts of suspended solids, including silt, clay, bacteria, and vimses and it is necessary to remove these before to distribution to the domestic or industrial consumer. Suspended soHds not only affect the acceptabiUty of the water but also interfere with disinfection. The principal treatment processes are sedimentation (qv) and filtration (qv). Sedimentation alone is rarely adequate for the clarification of turbid waters and is of htde or no value for the removal of such very fine particles as clay, bacteria, etc. Table 1 shows the effect of particle size on the sedimentation rate of a soHd having a specific gravity of 2.65 in water at 20°C. 

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