Flotation (redirected from floatation)

flotation

 or froth flotation

Most widely used process for extracting many minerals from their ores. The method separates and concentrates ores by altering their surfaces so that they are either repelled or attracted by water. Unwetted particles, which adhere to air that is bubbled through the water, will float in the froth, while wetted particles will sink. The process was developed on a commercial scale early in the 20th century to remove very fine mineral particles that formerly had gone to waste in gravity concentration plants. With its use to concentrate copper, lead, and zinc minerals, which commonly accompany one another in their ores, many complex ore mixtures formerly of little value have become major sources of certain metals.

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Flotation

A process used to separate particulate solids, which have been suspended in a fluid, by selectively attaching the particles to be removed to a light fluid and allowing this mineralized fluid aggregation to rise to where it can be removed. The principal use of the process is to separate valuable minerals from waste rock, or gangue, in which case the ground ore is suspended in water and, after chemical treatment, subjected to bubbles of air. The minerals which are to be floated attach to the air bubbles, rise through the suspension, and are removed with the froth which forms on top of the pulp. Although most materials subjected to flotation are minerals, applications to chemical and biological materials have been reported.