Flow characterization of a flotation column

The flow characteristics of a froth flotation column have been experimentally studied using air and aqueous surfactant solutions without the presence of solids. The hold-up behaviours of the bubbly and the froth zones of the column were linked together using the drift-flux model. The ratio of the gas drift-flux, j_gf, to the bubble terminal velocity, V, for both the bubbly and the froth zones was found to be well correlated by the Richardson–Zaki equation: