Editorial

Role of mineral flotation technology in improving bitumen extraction from mined Athabasca oil sands—II. Flotation hydrodynamics of water‐based oil sand extraction

“…A dynamic force apparatus (DFA) was recently developed at the F I G U R E 7 Flotation separation with/without tiny bubbles generated by hydrodynamic cavitation: A, plant operation of sulphide mineral flotation separation; [120] and B, field tests at the Suncor operation of bitumen recovery from oil sands middling stream [115] University of Alberta to investigate the hydrodynamic effect of a bubble approaching a hydrophobic surface and their attachment. [139][140][141] The research has confirmed the following: a) the probability of particle-bubble attachment increases if the particle-bubble approaching velocity is equivalent to the drainage velocity of the intervening liquid film; b) increasing the surface hydrophobicity increases the mobility of water in the thin liquid film, promoting faster drainage of the liquid; c) the smaller the contact area, the faster the liquid drainage and the higher the probability of attachment; and d) smaller bubbles (30-100 μm) are more effective for attachment onto a flotation-size bubble, as the [130] ); and C, possible mechanism of increased contact angle and attachment force in the presence of tiny bubbles [14,131] coalescence time decreases considerably when the microbubbles are smaller than 100 μm. These findings provide solid evidence to support the role of nanobubbles in accelerating particle-bubble attachment and flotation kinetics.…”