SusChEM: Customizable Separations using Oil-Coated Bubbles

SusChEM：使用涂油气泡的可定制分离

• 批准号: 1706475
• 负责人: Carson Meredith
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-08-15 至 2021-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1706475&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SusChEM; Customizable; Separations; using; Oil

The processing of ores to recover valuable minerals, the production and recycling of paper, and the treatment of wastewater all require processes that remove small solid particles from an aqueous slurry. Allowing the small particles to settle by gravitational forces alone would require prohibitively large settling basins. Thus, the industrial standard is to bubble air through the slurry, so that the particles adhere to the bubbles and rise to the surface where they can be easily skimmed off. This froth flotation process is best suited for removal of hydrophobic (oil-loving) particles, but is less effective for hydrophilic (water-loving) particles, as the latter have less proclivity to leave the aqueous phase and cling to the air bubble. Yet, a trend to replace oil-based chemicals with benign water-based substitutes has challenged effective removal via traditional froth flotation methods. As one example, the increasing use of environmentally friendly water-based printing inks leads to difficulty in recycling this paper. As new separation strategies are developed, there is an arguable advantage in adapting existing equipment and processes. This project will develop a method to coat the air bubble with environmentally benign and recyclable bio-based oils to increase the improve the efficiency of froth flotation in removing hydrophobic particles. The central hypothesis of this project is that an oil coating on the bubble will positively affect froth flotation by removing energy barriers for particles to adhere to the bubble surface, thereby improving particle-bubble adhesion, and increasing the separation efficiency. The oil coat is also expected to alter both the bubble shape and its rise dynamics. These hypotheses will be probed experimentally in a flotation column, comparing coated to uncoated bubbles, using a combination of optical, gravimetrical, and chemical analyses. Model particles allow for systematic variations in wettability, particle type, and the oil composition, and will be used to develop a theoretical framework. The theory will be extended and validated with hydrophilic inks from an actual paper pulp. The project will lead to a fundamental understanding of the three-phase oil-water-bubble interactions responsible for the performance of flotation separations, allowing customization of the engineering design of flotation devices for a specific separation task. One graduate student and one or two undergraduate researchers will conduct the laboratory experiments. Outreach efforts will include hands-on demonstrations using table top flotation columns, with a target audience of elementary and middle school students.

矿石的加工以回收有价值的矿物、纸张的生产和回收以及废水的处理都需要从含水浆料中去除小固体颗粒的工艺。让这些小颗粒仅仅依靠重力沉降，需要非常大的沉降池。 因此，工业标准是使空气鼓泡通过浆料，使得颗粒粘附到气泡上并上升到表面，在那里它们可以容易地被撇去。 这种泡沫浮选方法最适合于去除疏水性（嗜油）颗粒，但对于亲水性（嗜水）颗粒不太有效，因为后者离开水相并附着在气泡上的倾向较小。 然而，用良性水基替代品取代油基化学品的趋势对通过传统泡沫浮选方法的有效去除提出了挑战。作为一个例子，越来越多地使用环保的水基印刷油墨导致难以回收这种纸张。随着新的分离策略的开发，改造现有设备和工艺具有明显的优势。该项目将开发一种方法，用环保和可回收的生物基油涂覆气泡，以提高泡沫浮选去除疏水颗粒的效率。该项目的中心假设是，气泡上的油涂层将通过消除颗粒粘附到气泡表面的能量障碍而对泡沫浮选产生积极影响，从而改善颗粒-气泡粘附，并提高分离效率。 石油涂层也有望改变气泡的形状和上升动力。这些假设将在浮选柱中进行实验探索，比较涂层和未涂层的气泡，使用光学，重量分析和化学分析的组合。 模型颗粒允许系统的润湿性，颗粒类型和油的组成的变化，并将用于开发一个理论框架。该理论将被扩展和验证与亲水性油墨从一个实际的纸浆。该项目将导致对负责浮选分离性能的三相油-水-气泡相互作用的基本理解，允许针对特定分离任务定制浮选设备的工程设计。一名研究生和一两名本科生研究人员将进行实验室实验。外联工作将包括使用桌面浮选柱进行实际演示，目标受众为中小学生。

项目成果

Rheology of capillary foams

• DOI: 10.1039/d0sm00384k
• 发表时间: 2020-08-07
• 期刊: SOFT MATTER
• 影响因子: 3.4
• 作者: Okesanjo, Omotola;Tennenbaum, Michael;Behrens, Sven H.
• 通讯作者: Behrens, Sven H.