Ethylbenzene Removal by Froth Flotation Under Conditions of Middle‐Phase Microemulsion Formation II: Effects of Air Flow Rate, Oil‐to‐Water Ratio, and Equilibration Time.

Dihexyl sulfosuccinate (aerosol MA or AMA) was used to prepare microemulsion solutions in a study of the froth flotation process in batch mode to remove emulsified ethylbenzene from water. Oil removal, surfactant removal, and enrichment ratio were used to evaluate the performance of froth flotation. In this study, the effects of air flow rate, oil-to-water ratio, and equilibration time were investigated. A very high air flow rate was found to create more turbulence in the froth flotation column, resulting in low oil removal. As the oil-to-water ratio decreases, the enrichment ratio increases, whereas the oil removal slightly decreases. The froth flotation column with a feed solution in which the oil and water had been allowed to equilibrate was found to yield much higher ethylbenzene removal than that with a nonequilibrium feed solution. When the feed solution was agitated for 40 minutes to induce a state closer to equilibrium than with no mixing, the ethylbenzene removal was nearly as high as that with the equilibrium feed solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]