hfinera1.sEngineering, Vol. 8, No. 8, pp.

883-891, 1995
Copyright Q 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd
Pergamoln Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
08924375/95 $9.504-0.00

THE PARTICLE DETACHMENT PROCESS IN FLOTATION

TA-WUI CHENGg and P.N. HOLTHAM?

0 Department of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering,

National Taipei Institute of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
t Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre, Isles Road Indooroopilly, Qld. 4068, Australia
(Received 5 January 1995; accepted 21 February 1995)

ABSTRACT

ExperimenStal measurements of particle-bubble detachment forces by means of a novel

vibration technique provide a more realistic analogue of the conditions in a flotation cell
than the centrifuge techniques previously adopted. The detachment forces measured using
the new apparatus show good agreement with the forces predicted theoretically by Nutt.
The amplitude of any oscillations imposed on the bubble is found to be the dominant
factor in the detachment process.

Keywords
Flotation; detachment forces; monazite; sodium oleate

INTRODUCTION

Flotation is a physico-chemical process which depends on complex phenomena occurring at the surfaces
of mineral particles and air bubbles in water. The process involves collision between mineral particles and
air bubbles in the pulp, adhesion of hydrophobic particles to the bubbles and the subsequent detachment of
some of the adhering particles. Collision and adhesion have been investigated by many researchers, but
analysis of the detachment process (determination of the strength of attachment of particles to the gas-liquid
interface) has been more limited.

Detachment occurs as a result of the build up of excessive forces in the bubble skin following the sudden
acceleration of the particle-bubble aggregate. If the detachment force exceeds a certain value (the maximum
adhesive force), particles which had earlier attached themselves to the bubble will become detached. One
potential source of excessive forces in the bubble skin is bubble oscillations which were first observed in
mechanically agitated flotation cells by Spedden and Hannan [l]. Kirchberg and Topfer [2] showed that the
oscillations were caused by particle-bubble collisions, and that collisions with large particles in particular
resulted in detachment of many of the particles previously attached to the bubble. A second probable source
of excessive detachment forces is the motion of particle-bubble aggregates in the turbulent flow field in a
flotation cell.

The strength of particle-bubble aggregates is an important parameter in detailed modelling of the flotation
process and estimates of the detachment force have been previously reported in the literature, mostly using
a centrifuge technique (Nutt [3], Schulze [4,5], Nishkov and Pugh [6]).

Determination of fhe detachment force using a technique in which a particlebubble aggregate is

mechanically vibrated up and down in a small glass cell was first employed by Holtham and Cheng [7].
Unlike the centrifuge method which determines the detachment force at a gas-liquid meniscus, the vibration

883
884 T.-W. CHENG and P. N. HOLTHAM

technique estimates the force required to detach particles from a vibrating particle-bubble aggregate, a
condition which was considered to be more typical of conditions in a mechanically agitated flotation cell.
A theoretical analysis of the forces involved is given below.

THEORY

A particle will be detached from a bubble if the force of detachment (Fdet) exceeds the force of attachment
(F,,). Thus at equilibrium the force balance is:

Fdet= Fa (1)

The maximum attachment force of a single spherical particle at a gas-liquid interface can be expressed as
an approximation by:

Fa = xaR,(l-co&) (2)

where % is the particle radius, 0 the liquid surface tension and 8 the three phase contact angle [3].

If the gas bubble is excited by external forces, the bubble can be considered to behave like a spring-mass
system. If the external force is vibratory, and it is assumed that the vibration can be described by simple
harmonic motion, then for spherical particles the maximum vibrational force acting on the system is given
by:

F V_ = m(27cjj2A (3)

where m is the particle mass (kg), A the amplitude (m) andfthe frequency (Hz). In the original apparatus,
the maximum acceleration (& = (27tf12A), could only be varied by varying A, in the modified unit both
A andf can be independently varied. The force balance (equation 1) becomes:

Faetsnax
= (F,,_ +FB> = Fa (4)

where F, is the particle immersed weight.

Equation 4 formed the basis for the original estimates by Holtham and Cheng [7] of the detachment force
for a quartz-dodecylammonium chloride system. The experimentally measured detachment forces showed
a correlation with the theoretical predictions of Nutt [3] and Schulze [4], but appeared to be an order of
magnitude smaller. It was clear that either the theoretical expressions were overestimating the required
detachment force, or the analysis of the experimental system was omitting some important additional force
terms contributing to detachment.

In order to resolve this problem, high speed cinematography of the vibrating particle-bubble system was
undertaken in order to determine if the original analysis was valid. Filming of the particle-bubble aggregates
at 500 frames per second clearly showed particles moving in a circular path over the bubble surface at a
frequency corresponding to the excitation frequency of the vibration, as shown in Figure 1. No evidence
could be seen of a significant distortion of the bubble surface such as might result in an additional elastic
rebound force as previously suggested [7]. The rapid circular motion of the attached particles suggested that
the inclusion of an additional centrifugal force assisting detachment is necessary in equation 4.

For a spherical particle undergoing circular motion, the centrifugal force acting on the particle is given by:
 Particle detachment process 885

(5)

where v is the velocity and r is the radius of motion. The particles were observed to be circulating at the
frequency of the external vibrational excitation f hence:

The maximum value that can be taken by r is the bubble radius Rt,, and thus the maximum value of the
additional centrifugal force is:

F cw= = 4 xR;(p -pJ(27rjj2Rb (7)

Equation 4 for the Imaximum detachment force can now be written:

= Flqllax
Fdezmax +FcJMx
+F* (8)

In this paper, experimental detachment forces evaluated from equation 8 are compared with the theoretically
predicted attachment forces given by equation 2 for the monazite-oleate system.

T Bubble
Vibrating

1
Fig.1 Circular motion of attached particles on bubble surface

VIBRATION APPARATUS

Using the original apparatus, the frequency of vibration to which the particle-bubble aggregates were
exposed was fixed alt 50 Hz and only the amplitude could be varied [7]. In the experiments described here,
an improved version of the apparatus was used in which both frequency and amplitude can be independently
varied.

The modified particle-bubble vibration apparatus now uses a small loudspeaker driven by an audio signal
886 T.-W. CHENG and P. N. HOLTHAM

generator and power amplifier as the source of sinusoidal vibration. A small rectangular glass cell (10 x 12
x 54 mm) containing a single bubble with a known number of attached particles is fixed to the loudspeaker
and vibrated at a given amplitude and frequency for a fixed time period and the number of particles
detached is determined by counting. The vibration amplitude was calibrated using reflective sensor (a light
emitting diode/photo-transistor in a single package, normally used as an end-of-tape sensor in tape recorders)
mounted above the cell and connected to an oscilloscope. Vibration frequency could be varied using the
audio generator, and amplitude by altering the power amplifier gain. The general arrangement of the
apparatus is shown in Figure 2.

Bubble-Particle
Aggregate

\
0 1 Cell

Power Amplifier (30 W)

0

Audio Frequency Generator

Fig.2 Schematic Arrangement of the Vibration Apparatus

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

As the work described in the paper formed part of a larger study of rare earth mineral flotation the mineral
used for the experimental work was monazite concentrate supplied by the Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation. Four size fractions were prepared by screening and the mean size of each fraction
determined by using a Malvern Sizer. Each size fraction was further upgraded by hand-picking under a
microscope.

Sodium oleate at a concentration of 3 x 10B5 mol/l was used as collector in all experiments, the surface
tension of the dilute collector solution at pH 7.2 was 0.038 Nm-l. The contact angle of the monazite after
conditioning in the collector , which was measured by microscope and video camera, was 300.

The glass cell was filled with the dilute collector solution, and 0.005 g of monazite particles (previously
conditioned in the collector for 15 minutes) was added. The cell was carefully sealed, ensuring that no air
bubbles were trapped inside, and a single air bubble was then introduced by a syringe. A 2 mm bubble was
used, the size being measured using a microscope attached to a video camera and monitor. A maximum
bubble size range variation of ~40% was considered acceptable. The cell and its contents were then agitated
by hand causing a number of the particles to become attached to the bubble, the number being determined
by manual counting. To ensure that consistent values of the detachment force were measured, no more than
5-15 particles were attached to the bubble at any one time.

The cell was then securely attached to the loudspeaker. By increasing the amplifier output, the
particle-bubble aggregate could be exposed to increasing levels of vibrational acceleration. After reaching
the desired level, the amplifier was turned off. the cell carefully removed from the speaker and the number
 Particle detachment process 887

of particles detached determined by counting as before. At each acceleration level, ten particle-bubble
aggregates were created and the number of particles detached from each aggregate counted in order to get
an average value. This procedure was repeated at increasing values of amplifier output until a level was
reached at which all the particles were detached from the bubble.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Effect of Particle Size and Vibrational Acceleration

The variation of the probability of detachment of monazite particles at the particle bubble interface as a
function of particle size and acceleration (at a fixed frequency) is shown in Figure 3. It is clear that with
increasing vibrational acceleration the monazite particles are more readily detached from the bubble, and
the coarser the particle the higher the probability of detachment. As would be expected if a particle-bubble
aggregate is accelerated (in a turbulent flow field for example), the larger particles have greater inertia and
are more readily detached. Similar results have been reported by other researchers.

0.8

0.8

0 20 40 80 80 100 120 140

Vibrational Acceleration (ms-2)

Fig.3 The effect of acceleration on the probability of detachment

(bubble Gze 2 mm, vibration frequency 50 Hz, sodium oleate 3.5x10b5M, pH 7.2)

Detachment Forces

Fv,max’ Lnax and Fp were determined for each size. The experimental values of F, max were found by
substituting the vibrational acceleration required to achieve complete detachment from Figure 3 into equation
3. The values of F, maxwere calculated using equation 7. The overall experimental values of the detachment
force calculated using equation 8 are given in Table 1 and the corresponding predictions using equation 2
are given in Table 2.
888 T.-W. CHENG and P. N. HOLTHAM

TABLE 1 Experimental detachment force (vibration frequency 50 Hz)

Particle Size Fvfl= %+i Fg Fespt,det

@ml

139 6.02x 1O-7 5.96x 1O-7 6.2 x lo-8 1.26x 10-6

122 4.27x 1O-7 4.03x 10-7 4.0 x 10-8 8.70x 10-7
107 3.02x 10-7 2.71x 10-7 2.7 x 10-8 6.00x 10-7
93 2.07x 1O-7 1.79x 10-7 1.8x 10-8 4.04x 10-7

TABLE 2 Theoretical detachment forces

Mean Particle Size Theoretical Detachment Force

(pm) (Newton)
139 1.11x 10-6
122 9.75x 10-7
107 8.55x 10-7
93 7.43x 10-7

The theoretical and experimental values are compared in Figure 4. There is now considerably closer
agreement than was previously found, although the slope of the experimental curve is slightly higher than
that of the theoretical curve.

4 Detachment force (N)

10 :
- --X-- Theoretical Force (N)
- + Espt Force(N)

1o-5 I

--
90 100 110 120 130 140
Partide Size (microns)

Fig.4 Comparison of Theoretical and Experimental Detachment Force

Varbanov et al. investigated the behaviour of an aggregate of monodispersed glass spheres attached to a gas
liquid interface using a centrifuge technique [6]. They found that aggregates of minus 100 pm particles
 Paticle detachmentprocess 889

required a greater force of detachment than that predicted by equation 2, rather than a lesser force as found
experimentally. However it is difficult to make a direct comparison with their results due to the different
techniques used. The remaining discrepancy may be related to the particle numbers attached to the bubble;
Nutt [3] showed that attachment force of particle-bubble aggregates decreased by as much as 50% from
the single particle case as the number of particles in the aggregate increased.

The detachment force predicted by equation 2 depends significantly on the three phase contact angle 6 and
hence the degree of collector adsorption. Particles of a given size will each adsorb a similar amount of
collector resulting lina similar collector concentration per unit surface area and thus a similar contact angle.
With particles of a smaller size, the consumption of collector will increase due to an increase in the specific
surface area. If the initial collector concentration and mass of particles is the same, particle samples with
different mean sizes are likely to have different contact angles.

Effect of Frequency and Amplitude

As vibrational force and hence probability of detachment depends on both frequency and amplitude of
vibration, both fact’ors were investigated. In principle, the upper frequency limit is determined by the signal
generator used, in practice it was found that the apparatus became unstable at frequencies in excess of about
120 Hz.

The influence of frequency at four values of Fv,max on the probability of detachment for the vibrating
particle-bubble aggregate is shown in Figure 5. It might be expected that within the limited range of
frequencies studied, the probability of detachment for a given value of F,,,, would be constant. However,
as can be seen, as the frequency was increased in 10 Hz steps from 50 to 100 Hz, and the amplitude
correspondingly decreased from 1 mm to 0.25 mm, the probability of detachment reduced to zero. This can
be explained in temls of the particle gyration on the bubble surface. On viewing the high speed film it could
be seen that the radius of the circular motion of the particle on the bubble surface decreased with decreasing
amplitude at any given frequency, thus the centrifugal force would decrease (equation 7) and hence the
overall detachment force would decrease correspondingly, leading to a decrease in the probability of
detachment.

Probab:ility of Detachment

ACC&!ldiOll -8- 70 ml-2

+ 80 ma-2
-8- 90 mr-2

-A- 100 ma-2

50 60 70 60 QO 100
Frequency (Hz)
Fig.5 The Effect of Vibration Frequency on Probability of Detachment
HE 8-O-O
(mean particle size 122 urn, sodium oleate 3x10m5M,pH 7.2)
890 T.-W. CHENG and P. N. HOLTHAM

After collision between a particle-bubble aggregate and another particle in the flotation pulp, only the initial
peak value of the amplitude of the bubble oscillation is important for the strength of the aggregate (Schulze
[5]). Figure 5 is replotted in Figure 6 to show the effect of amplitude changes. Clearly, probability of
detachment increases with increasing amplitude for a level of vibrational acceleration, and for the
monazite-oleate system a minimum amplitude of 0.25 mm was required to initiate detachment.

After a particle-aggregate collision, it has been observed that bubble oscillations have a frequency of about
200 Hz (Schulze [S], ~229) and this collision energy might be expected to result in detachment. However,
this study shows that detachment depends strongly on oscillation amplitude as well as frequency and
detachment may not occur despite a high frequency of oscillation. Conversely, even if the frequency of
oscillation is low, detachment may occur beyond a certain critical amplitude.

Probability of Detachment
1
- 70 mu-2

0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.9 1.0

Amplitude (mm)

Fig.6 The Effect of Vibration Amplitude on Probability of Detachment

(mean particle size 122 pm, sodium oleate 3~10-~M, pH 7.2)

CONCLUSIONS

High speed photography has shown that vibrating a bubble-particle aggregate induces circulatory motion
of the attached particles on the bubble surface with the radius of circulation depending on the amplitude of
vibration, and the motion leads to a development of a significant centrifugal force assisting detachment.
Such a vibration may be introduced in a particle-bubble aggregate in a flotation cell due to collisions
between the aggregates and large particles, or the aggregate being accelerated in a turbulent flow field.
Experimental measurements of the detachment force using a modified vibration technique have been shown
to be in good agreement with the theoretical predictions of Nutt when the additional centrifugal force term
is included. Thus it is felt that the Nutt equation can be used in detailed modelling of the flotation process,
although further investigation of a range of particle-bubble systems is warranted.

REFERENCES

1. Spedden, H.R. & Hannan, W.S., Attachment of mineral particles to air bubbles in flotation. AIME
Technical Publication, 2354 (1948).
2. Kirchberg, H. & Topfer, E., The mineralisation of air bubbles in flotation. In: Proc. VII Min.
Process. Congress, (New York: Gordon and Breach), 157-68 (1965).
 Particle detachment process 891

3. Nutt, C.W., Froth flotation: the adhesion of solid particles to flat interfaces and bubbles. Chem.
Eng. Sci., 12, 133-41 (1960).
4. Schulze, H.J., Wahl, B. & Gottschalk, G., Determination of adhesive strength of particles within
the gas-liquid interface in flotation by means of a centrifuge method. J. Colloid & Interface Sci.,
128, 1, 57-65 (1989).
5. Schulze, H.J., Physics-Chemical Elementary Processes in Flotation. Amsterdam: Elsevier, (1984).
6. Nishkov, I. & Pugh, R.J., The relationship between flotation and adhesion of galena particles to
the air-solution interface, Int. 1. Mineral Process., 25, 275-288 (1989).
7. Holtham, P.N. & Cheng, Ta-Wui., Study of probability of detachment of particles from bubbles
in flotation. Trans. Instn. Min. Metall. (Sect. C: Mineral Process. Extr. Metall.), 100, C147-153
(Sept-Dee, 1991).