Influence of particles on the formation of bubbles from a submerged capillary

• The effect of particles and frothers on the formation of bubbles was studied.
• Bubble departure size decreased with the concentration of particles.
• The particles barely prevented bubble coalescence.

This paper will explore the possibility of using colloidal particles as a bubble stabilising agent in froth flotation. Nearly monodisperse 300 nm silica particles were subjected to surface modification through an esterification reaction using a long chain alcohol to create an advancing contact angle of 73.5 °. To study the influence of particles on the growth and departure of a single bubble, experiments were performed with a capillary tube submerged in the hydrophobised silica suspension. A high-speed camera was used to capture the bubbling phenomena in real time. The acquired videos were then analysed to extract the parameters such as bubble size, departure frequency, and growth time through an image-processing software. Experiments were also carried out with MIBC (methyl isobutyl carbinol) and a polyglycol type surfactant (poly(propylene glycol)), PPG) for comparison. The results showed that an increase in the particle concentration resulted in a decrease in mean bubble size produced at the tip of capillary. The same trend was also observed with both frothers.