Air-assisted separation system

A separation system is presented that partitions a slurry containing a plurality of particles that are influenced by a fluidization flow (which comprises teeter water and gas bubbles) and a fluidized bed. The separation system comprises a separation tank, a slurry feed distributor, a fluidization flow manifold and a gas introduction system. All of these components are arranged to create the fluidized bed in the separation tank by introducing the slurry through the slurry feed distributor and allowing the slurry to interact with the fluidization flow that enters the separation tank from the fluidization flow manifold. The gas introduction system is configured to optimize the gas bubble size distribution in the fluidization flow. The gas introduction system comprises a gas introduction conduit and a bypass conduit. The gas introduction system can be adjusted by modulating the flow of teeter water through the gas introduction conduit.