Publisher's Synopsis
Froth flotation is normally effected by the combination of a collector and a frother, although the importance of a frother is often overlooked, despite lending its name to the process. For some time it was believed that the function of the frother was to provide a large air-water interface and a stable froth layer. The concept originated by Jack Schulmann and Jan Leja, that the frothing power of flotation agents was not the main reason for the employment of that type of agent in flotation, turned out to be useful for mineral processing, and led to the establishment of the penetration theory. The possibility of contrasting the static attachment of bubbles to solids with the dynamic attachment in flotation cells was now realized, opening up new areas of flotation research and leading to significant thermodynamic and kinetic findings, the practical applications of which have yet to be fully realized.
