Abstract

Bubbles blown in surfactant (frother) solution reveal surface flows attributed to gravity drainage and opposing Marangoni Effect. A technique is introduced to visualize the flows and estimate trajectory velocity. The flow pattern and velocity depend on frother type (pentanol vs. a polyglycol) and concentration but no correlation with surface tension was found. The relevance of the observations to the action of frother in flotation is briefly discussed. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.