Surface roughness in bubble attachment and flotation of highly hydrophobic solids in presence of frother – experiment and simulations

In this paper, the kinetic of the three-phase contact (TPC) formation and the flotation recovery of highly hydrophobic solids with different surface roughness were studied in pure water and aqueous solutions of n-octanol. The surface roughness varied between 1 to 100 μm. It was found that there was a strong influence of surface roughness on both kinetics of TPC formation and flotation. The time of three phase contact formation and flotation rate were much faster for rough surfaces in both water and aqueous solutions of frother. Irrespective of the surface roughness, at above a certain frother dose, the attachment time increased and the flotation rate decreased. It was related to the presence of air at the hydrophobic solid surfaces. The mechanism of this prolongation of the time of TPC formation at the solid surfaces with different roughness due to the frother overdosage was discussed, and the experimental data were confirmed by numerical simulations.