Surfactant Adsorption by Sub-Millimeter Size Bubbles: Quantification and Modelling

Bubbles rising through seawater scavenge surface-active organic materials from the water column. The scavenging process in turn has a strong influence on the dynamics of the underlying bubble. The rate at which a surfactant is adsorbed by a bubble involves the ambient concentration of the material, the adsorption potential for the material, the bubble skin saturation limit, the surface area of the bubble, the collision kinetics and the diffusion rate, and the void fraction of the bubble cloud. Our objective was to quantify these factors and to develop and verify a model of the bubble scavenging process