Flotation Thickening

Flotation is a solid-liquid separation process. Separation is artificially induced by introducing fine gas bubbles (usually air) into the flotation process system. The gas bubbles become attached to the solid particulates, forming a gas-solid aggregate with an overall bulk density less than the density of the liquid; thus, these aggregates rise to the surface of the fluid. Once the solid particles have been floated to the surface, they can be collected by a skimming operation (1–15).