Bubble performance of a novel dissolved air flotation(DAF) unit

ES-DAF, a novel DAF with low cost, high reliability and easy controllability, was studied. Without a costly air saturator, ES-DAF consists of an ejector and a static mixer between the pressure side and suction side of the recycle rotary pump. The bubble size distribution in this novel unit was studied in detail by using a newly developed CCD imagination through a microscope. Compared with M-DAF under the same saturation pressure, ES-DAF can produce smaller bubble size and higher bubble volume concentration, especially in lower pressure. In addition, the bubble size decreases with the increase of reflux ratio or decrease of superficial air-water ratio. These results suggested that smaller bubbles will be formed when the initial number of nucleation sites increases by enhancing the turbulence intensity in the saturation system.