flotation

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, floatation

1. power or ability to float; buoyancy

2. a process to concentrate the valuable ore in low-grade ores. The ore is ground to a powder, mixed with water containing surface-active chemicals, and vigorously aerated. The bubbles formed trap the required ore fragments and carry them to the surface froth, which is then skimmed off

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flotation [flō′tā·shən]

(engineering)

A process used to separate particulate solids by causing one group of particles to float; utilizes differences in surface chemical properties of the particles, some of which are entirely wetted by water, others are not; the process is primarily applied to treatment of minerals but can be applied to chemical and biological materials; in mining engineering it is referred to as froth flotation.

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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.