An investigation of the flotation mechanism in the aerosol column flotation machine

It is shown that the induction time decreases as the temperature decreases if there is air bubble adhesion to hydrophobic and hydrophilic particles; if there isn’t, the time decreases where hydrophobic particles stick to one another and increases in the case of adhesion of hydrophilic particles. The established difference in the stability of wetting and symmetric films that depend on temperature can be explained by the fact that hydrophobic forces (involving those acting from a “hydrophobic” bubble) have a larger action radius of action than the forces of hydrophilicrepulsion. The revealed mechanisms allowed the development of a new flotation technique, namely, flotation with a steam-air mixture. The essence of this technique is that only a surface layer of the bubble, where the effect of structural forces is localized (rather than the entire slurry volume) is heated due to steam condensation. The efficiency of this technique is shown by the example of flotation concentration of minerals of different origins.