Foam Fractionation Rates

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Abstract
An empirical model enables the relation of the batch foam fractionation rate as a power function of the air rate and of the instantaneous residual surfactant concentration, eliminating the bubble size which is difficult to control and to measure. For the cationic surfactant, ethylhexadecyl-dimethylarnmonium bromide, the batch foam fractionation rate is directly proportional to the residual surfactant concentration to the first power, except for dilute (>45 mg/liter) solutions, and including suspensions containing colloidal ferric oxide and polynucleated, complexed cyanider Constants obtained from batch data can be used in the analogue equation for continuous operation to predict accurately the continuous foam fractionation rate, for a single air rate but over a substantial range of feed rates and feed surfactant concentrations. Continuous data from an entirely different column can be fit by a power function equation of the same form, with the power on the effluent or bottoms surfactant concentration again being unity. The accuracy of the predictive equations is in the range 10–18%.