Particles size

When used to separate solid-solid mixtures, the material is ground to a particle size small enough to liberate particles of the chemical species to be recovered. The mixture of solid particles is then dispersed in the flotation medium, which is usually water. Gas bubbles become attached to the solid particles, thereby allowing them to float to the surface of the liquid. The solid partices are collected from the surface by an overflow weir or mechanical scraper. The separation of the solid particles depends on the different species having different surface properties such that one species is preferentially attached to the bubbles. A number of chemicals are added to the flotation medium to meet the various requirements of the flotation process ... 

Equipment Main particle separation mechanisip Approximate particle size range (/xm)... 

A considerable reduction in particle size separation can be achieved at the expense of increased pressure drop using a Venturi scrubber (see Fig. 11.2c). 

Brownian movement The rapid and random movement of particles of a colloidal sol, observed brightly lit against a dark ground. First observed with a pollen suspension. The Brownian movement is due to the impact on the dispersed particles of the molecules of the dispersion medium. As the particles increase in size, the probability of unequal bombardment from different sides decreases, and eventually collisions from all sides cancel out and the Brownian movement becomes imperceptible at a particle size of about 3-4/z. From the characteristics of the movement, Perrin calculated Avogadro s number L. 

Poorly sorted sediments comprise very different particle sizes, resulting in a dense rock fabric wifh low porosify. As a resulf the connate water saturation is high, leaving little space for the storage of hydrocarbons. Conversely, a very well sorted sediment will have a large volume of space between the evenly sized components, a lower connate water saturation and hence a larger capacity to store hydrocarbons. Connate water is the water which remains in the pore space after the entry of hydrocarbons. 

Rowell and co-workers [62-64] have developed an electrophoretic fingerprint to uniquely characterize the properties of charged colloidal particles. They present contour diagrams of the electrophoretic mobility as a function of the suspension pH and specific conductance, pX. These fingerprints illustrate anomalies and specific characteristics of the charged colloidal surface. A more sophisticated electroacoustic measurement provides the particle size distribution and potential in a polydisperse suspension. Not limited to dilute suspensions, in this experiment, one characterizes the sonic waves generated by the motion of particles in an alternating electric field. O Brien and co-workers have an excellent review of this technique [65]. 

Relaxations in the double layers between two interacting particles can retard aggregation rates and cause them to be independent of particle size [101-103]. Discrepancies between theoretical predictions and experimental observations of heterocoagulation between polymer latices, silica particles, and ceria particles [104] have promptetl Mati-jevic and co-workers to propose that the charge on these particles may not be uniformly distributed over the surface [105, 106]. Similar behavior has been seen in the heterocoagulation of cationic and anionic polymer latices [107]. 

Variation of Specific Surface Eneigy with Particle Size"... 

The preceding upper limit to particle size can be exceeded if more than one bubble is attached to the particle, t A matter relating to this and to the barrier that exists for a bubble to attach itself to a particle is discussed by Leja and Poling [63] see also Refs. 64 and 65. The attachment of a bubble to a surface may be divided into steps, as illustrated in Figs. XIII-8a-c, in which the bubble is first distorted, then allowed to adhere to the surface. Step 1, the distortion step, is not actually unrealistic, as a bubble impacting a surface does distort, and only after the liquid film between it and the surface has sufficiently thinned does... 

R. R. Irani and C. F. Callis, Particle Size, Wiley, New York, 1963. 

The currently useful model for dealing with rough surfaces is that of the selfsimilar or fractal surface (see Sections VII-4C and XVI-2B). This approach has been very useful in dealing with the variation of apparent surface area with the size of adsorbate molecules used and with adsorbent particle size. All adsorbate molecules have access to a plane surface, that is, one of fractal dimension 2. For surfaces of Z> > 2, however, there will be regions accessible to small molecules... 

As on previous occasions, the reader is reminded that no very extensive coverage of the literature is possible in a textbook such as this one and that the emphasis is primarily on principles and their illustration. Several monographs are available for more detailed information (see General References). Useful reviews are on future directions and anunonia synthesis [2], surface analysis [3], surface mechanisms [4], dynamics of surface reactions [5], single-crystal versus actual catalysts [6], oscillatory kinetics [7], fractals [8], surface electrochemistry [9], particle size effects [10], and supported metals [11, 12]. 

Surface heterogeneity may merely be a reflection of different types of chemisorption and chemisorption sites, as in the examples of Figs. XVIII-9 and XVIII-10. The presence of various crystal planes, as in powders, leads to heterogeneous adsorption behavior the effect may vary with particle size, as in the case of O2 on Pd [107]. Heterogeneity may be deliberate many catalysts consist of combinations of active surfaces, such as bimetallic alloys. In this last case, the surface properties may be intermediate between those of the pure metals (but one component may be in surface excess as with any solution) or they may be distinctly different. In this last case, one speaks of various effects ensemble, dilution, ligand, and kinetic (see Ref. 108 for details). 

Because x-rays are particularly penetrating, they are very usefiil in probing solids, but are not as well suited for the analysis of surfaces. X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods are nevertheless used routinely in the characterization of powders and of supported catalysts to extract infomration about the degree of crystallinity and the nature and crystallographic phases of oxides, nitrides and carbides [, ]. Particle size and dispersion data are often acquired with XRD as well. 

In practice, e.g., in nature or in fonnulated products, colloidal suspensions (also denoted sols or dispersions) tend to be complex systems, consisting of many components that are often not very well defined, in tenns of particle size for instance. Much progress has been made in the understanding of colloidal suspensions by studying well defined model systems, which allow for a quantitative modelling of their behaviour. Such systems will be discussed here. 

Due to the particle size, a colloidal crystal is much weaker than a nonnal solid material—the elastic moduli are... 

Even when carefully prepared, model colloids are almost never perfectly monodisperse. The spread in particle sizes, or polydispersity, is usually expressed as the relative widtli of tire size distribution,... 

Given tire a size dependence of tire settling rate, sedimentation can be used for particle size analysis. Indeed, a quick... 

Altematively, tire polymer layers may overlap, which increases tire local polymer segment density, also resulting in a repulsive interaction. Particularly on close approach, r < d + L, a steep repulsion is predicted to occur. Wlren a relatively low molecular weight polymer is used, tire repulsive interactions are ratlier short-ranged (compared to tire particle size) and the particles display near hard-sphere behaviour (e.g., [11]). 

A combination of equation (C2.6.13), equation (C2.6.14), equation (C2.6.15), equation (C2.6.16), equation (C2.6.17), equation (C2.6.18) and equation (C2.6.19) tlien allows us to estimate how low the electrolyte concentration needs to be to provide kinetic stability for a desired lengtli of time. This tlieory successfully accounts for a number of observations on slowly aggregating systems, but two discrepancies are found (see, for instance, [33]). First, tire observed dependence of stability ratio on salt concentration tends to be much weaker tlian predicted. Second, tire variation of tire stability ratio witli particle size is not reproduced experimentally. Recently, however, it was reported that for model particles witli a low surface charge, where tire DL VO tlieory is expected to hold, tire aggregation kinetics do agree witli tire tlieoretical predictions (see [60], and references tlierein). 

Experimentally, tire hard-sphere phase transition was observed using non-aqueous polymer lattices [79, 80]. Samples are prepared, brought into the fluid state by tumbling and tlien left to stand. Depending on particle size and concentration, colloidal crystals tlien fonn on a time scale from minutes to days. Experimentally, tliere is always some uncertainty in the actual volume fraction. Often tire concentrations are tlierefore rescaled so freezing occurs at ( )p = 0.49. The widtli of tire coexistence region agrees well witli simulations [Jd, 80]. 

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