Effect of Frothers on Foamability, Foam Stability, and Bubble Size

This article evaluates frother performance by studying a two-phase gas-liquid system. Surface tension, foamability, foam stability, and bubble-size distribution were measured as a function of frother type, frother dosage, and solution pH. Variation of bubble size with respect to frother concentration was used for predicting the critical coalescence concentration (CCC) of selected alcohol and polyglycol ether family frothers. An inverse relationship was found between critical coalescence concentration and dynamic foamability index (DFI). Frothers DF-1012 and PPG were found to be more powerful in terms of stability, foamability, and CCC than frothers belonging to the alcohol family. Frother effectiveness was found to be relatively better in alkaline pH.