Gas dispersion characteristics of flotation reagents

Gas dispersion is one of the key factors in the mineral flotation process articulated by many variables such as bubble size, gas hold-up, gas superficial velocity and bubble surface area flux (Sb). In this work, experiments were carried out on column flotation (5.08 cm in diameter and 180 cm height) with different types of reagents to evaluate the gas hold-up. The gas hold-up was measured using pressure difference technique. The parameters were optimized for enhanced gas hold-up for better flotation performance. The influence of operating parameters comprising different reagentsʹ dosage/type and their mixture combination on gas hold-up was discussed in detail. Based on the experimental data, the dimensionless correlations were developed to predict the gas hold-up within the range of parameters studied. The correlations are found to be able to predict gas hold-up with acceptable accuracy.