Explosives Engineering Commons^™

Nanobubble Flotation Strategy Of Fluorite Integrating Experimental And Dft Analysis, Ahmed Sobhy, Hadeer El-Shamy, Nourhan Ahmed, Mohsen Farahat

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The conventional froth flotation of fluorite from quartz-rich ores is reagent-intensive and faces selectivity challenges, impacting its economic and environmental sustainability. This study presents a novel green intensification strategy through the synergistic integration of nanobubble (NB) technology with Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations. Systematic optimization of sodium oleate (collector) and sodium silicate (depressant) dosages in conjunction with hydrodynamic parameters (air/wash water velocity, NB generation rate) was conducted in both mechanical and column flotation systems. The incorporation of nanobubbles yielded transformative improvements: in mechanical flotation, collector and depressant consumption were reduced by over 50% while maintaining a concentrate grade exceeding 90% …

Impact Of Nanobubbles On Mechanical Coal Flotation Process, Ahmed Sobhy, Dongping Tao

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A bank of three 10-liter mechanical flotation cells integrated with nanobubble technology was investigated to assess the impact of nanobubbles on coal separation performance at different operating variables. The most significant operation parameters such as fuel oil collector dosage, methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) frother concentration, flow rate to nanobubble generator, feed solid concentration, and feed flow rate were studied individually. Nanobubbles are generated selectively on the hydrophobic particles, which should have a positive effect on flotation separation efficiency. It has been shown that frother concentration, collector dosage, and flow rate to nanobubble generator had a positive and significant effect on …

Nanobubble Column Flotation For More Efficient Coal Recovery, Ahmed Sobhy, R. Honaker, D. Tao

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Froth flotation is a widely used, cost effective coal cleaning process. However, its high process efficiency is limited to a narrow particle size range between approximately 50 to 600 μm for coal and 10 to 100 μm for minerals. Beyond this range, the efficiency of froth flotation decreases sharply, especially for difficult-to-float coal fines of weak hydrophobicity (e.g., oxidized coal).

This study was aimed at enhancing recovery of an Illinois fine coal sample using a flotation column featuring a hydrodynamic cavitation nanobubble generator. Nanobubbles that are mostly smaller than 1 μm can be formed selectively on hydrophobic coal particles from …