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

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