Current status of research on nanobubbles in particle flotation

Abstract

Froth flotation, as one of the most widely used separation approaches in mineral processing, is commonly used to recover valuable components from minerals. However, maintaining high flotation efficiencies is a serious challenge for conventional froth flotation in the face of decreasing particle size of the minerals to be sorted. To date, there have been plenty of reports on the software of nano-bubbles (NBS) in flotation, and the experimental consequences show that nano-bubbles' introduction has given rise to improvement's different grades in the recovery of varieties of minerals, which highlights the great potential of nano-bubbles for mineral flotation. Nanobubbles have smaller bubble radii and unusually high stability compared to conventional flotation bubbles, and their related behavior in flotation has been a hot research topic. This paper reviews some of the methods of preparing nanobubbles, equipment techniques for characterizing nanobubbles, factors affecting their stability, and some of the popular doctrines. In particular, the reinforcing mechanism of nanobubbles in the particle flotation process is discussed, first, the nanobubbles improve the electrostatic attractiveness with the particles by achieving the charge inversion while the nanobubbles that was adsorbed on the particles' surface will cover a share of the charge, which decreases the electrostatic repulsive force between the particles; and second, the nanobubbles can act as a bridge between the surfaces of the two particles, which advances the agglomeration between the particles. This review aims to be able to further advance the research related to the industrialization of nanobubbles.