Foam formation and mitigation in a three-phase gas–liquid–particulate system

Foaming is of great concern in a number of industrial processes involving three-phase gas–liquid-finely divided solid systems such as those encountered in the vitrification of highly radioactive nuclear waste slurries and sludges. Recent work has clearly shown that the surface properties of the particles such as hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity or biphilicity (i.e. partially wetted by water) are the cause of foamability and foam stability. The literature data on particles causing foaminess and foam stability in the absence of any surfactant are rather scarce. This paper presents experimental observations on aqueous foams with polyhedral structures containing over 90% air generated due to the presence of irregularly-shaped fine crystalline particles of sodium chloride which were modified into amphiphilic particles by physical adsorption of a cationic surfactant. Cross-polarized light microscopy was used to visualize the physical adsorption of the surfactant on the crystal surface. It is shown that these biphilic or amphiphilic particles attach to the air bubble surface and prevent the coalescence of bubbles, thereby extending the life of the foam. The foaming power of solid particles increases with an increase in the concentration of amphiphilic particles, and a maximum in foaminess is observed which is due to two competing effects. Amphiphilic particles promote foamability by attachment to the bubble surfaces as individual particles and foam inhibition due to the clustering or flocculation of particles in the bulk at high particle concentrations. We studied the adsorption of amphiphilic particles at a planar air–water surface and found that the degree of foamability correlates well with the particle coverage (i.e. adsorption density) at the air–liquid surface. An exploratory study was also conducted using an antifoam recently developed by IIT researchers to mitigate foaming in particle-laden gas–liquid systems.