A new microscale flotation cell: Combination of Canadian column and Partridge-Smith cell

Abstract

Flotation is one of the most important physicochemical processes for mineral separations and other recovery operations. Flotation machines have been developed since the beginning of the 19(th) century and are still under intensive research and development. The devised cell is a combination of the Canadian Column Flotation Cell and Partridge-Smith Cell : The materials used for the construction of the newly-designed cell are cheap and available laboratory accessories and aquarium materials. The cell functions well in terms of its scale, the small samples required and control. It can be used anywhere in the laboratory for research and in the classroom for demonstrations of experiments. Some of the data obtained using this cell by the flotation method are in good agreement with the contact angles method measured independently on the same minerals. The measurements obtained in our experiments are comparable to those previously published for the same minerals used.