Aerosol-enhanced flotation - A possible approach to improved flotation deinking

Column flotation experiments were used to determine if coagulated flexographic ink was more efficiently collected by nitrogen bubbles bearing a 45 nm coating of silicone oil which was introduced as an aerosol with the gas phase. The flotation results were modelled by time series intervention analysis, which showed that the presence of the silicone oil aerosol in the bubbles resulted in an increase in the fractional recovery from 0.14 to 0.29. In addition, the individual bubble collection efficiency of gas bubbles generated with silicone oil aerosol was 2.31 times that of the untreated nitrogen bubbles.