Surface chemical studies on flotation processes - Importance of the hydrophobic property of solid particles in flotation efficiency

The immediate purposes of this study is to establish the surface chemical principles associated with the flotation process of waste papers and to verify them by practical flotation experiments. To achieve this AKD sized hydrophobic microcrystallince cellulose (MCC) with different levels of hydrophobicity, and hydrophilic MCC dyed with black were prepared as model substances. The effects of surface characteristics on flotation efficiency were evaluated by measuring the brightness of the flotation rejects obtained after the flotation experiments carried out using MCC mixtures prepared with different ratios of hydrophobic and hydrophilic MCC's. Results showed that more than 90% of the flotation rejects consisted of hydrophobic MCC indicating the critical importance of the hydrophobicity of the materials in the flotation process. The proportions of hydrophobic materials in the reject remained constant when highly sized MCC was used as a model of hydrophobic substance.