Flotation in a novel oscillatory baffled column

Abstract This paper presents an evaluation of an oscillatory baffled column (OBC) as a novel flotation device. The cell is based on a standard column design but employs a novel agitation mechanism where a series of baffle plates are oscillated sinusoidally through the fluid. This type of agitation has been shown to produce a more evenly distributed shear rate in the cell and allows the effect of agitation on particle–bubble contacting to be decoupled from gas dispersion effects. The column was first characterised in terms of mixing and gas dispersion, before being flotation tested using a quartz-amine system. Results indicated that the OBC was able to improve the flotation rate constant by up to 60% for fine particles (