Study of gas holdup in a cocurrent air/water/fiber system

Gas holdup is a useful parameter for identifying flow efficiencies in a flotation cell. The effect of pulp consistency on gas holdup was more complex. Gas holdup decreased with increasing old newsprint (ONP) consistency at low liquid flow rates. Gas holdup reached its maximum when the ONP consistency was at 0.8% presumably because the higher liquid flow rates inhibited bubble coalescence and subsequent channeling at higher liquid flow rates. The gas holdup as a function of four process variables is examined.