Transport phenomena in foam fractionation. Foam fractionation has a number of immediate applications in mineral and food processing but its most exciting potential is as low cost alternative for recovering and purifying high value biosurfactants. These are materials used to stabilise interfaces in living systems, and can be used as antibiotics and antiviral agents. The affinity for biosurfactants to collect at an interface suggests that foam fractionation is an ideal process to concentrate valua ....Transport phenomena in foam fractionation. Foam fractionation has a number of immediate applications in mineral and food processing but its most exciting potential is as low cost alternative for recovering and purifying high value biosurfactants. These are materials used to stabilise interfaces in living systems, and can be used as antibiotics and antiviral agents. The affinity for biosurfactants to collect at an interface suggests that foam fractionation is an ideal process to concentrate valuable products. Clearly, a cost-effective and reliable method of enriching streams of biosurfactants will make their use even more attractive and will engender the development of more novel biomaterials, such as pepfactants.Read moreRead less
Molecular phenomena and engineering of saline water-air interfaces. Saline water use in Australia's mining, agricultural, and drinking water industries is increasing. Many of the production processes of these industries are underpinned by many complex molecular phenomena and interactions at the saline water - air interfaces which we want to understand, optimise and design. The findings will have direct benefits in the field of flotation used to recover valuable minerals using hyper-saline bore w ....Molecular phenomena and engineering of saline water-air interfaces. Saline water use in Australia's mining, agricultural, and drinking water industries is increasing. Many of the production processes of these industries are underpinned by many complex molecular phenomena and interactions at the saline water - air interfaces which we want to understand, optimise and design. The findings will have direct benefits in the field of flotation used to recover valuable minerals using hyper-saline bore water and to produce drinking water from seawater by desalination. This project is important because it will lead to sustainable ways of producing water and using water in industry. Its success will ensure that our industries remain at the forefront of innovation and are globally competitive.Read moreRead less
Effect of Saline Water on Flotation Processes. The Australian mineral and coal industry is valued at $40 billion in export income per year. This significant component of the Australian economy will benefit from this research into the increased use of highly saline water to improve coal and mineral flotation recovery. The project will keep Australia at the leading edge of flotation research, research training and development for the coal and mineral industry. With direct relevance to the National ....Effect of Saline Water on Flotation Processes. The Australian mineral and coal industry is valued at $40 billion in export income per year. This significant component of the Australian economy will benefit from this research into the increased use of highly saline water to improve coal and mineral flotation recovery. The project will keep Australia at the leading edge of flotation research, research training and development for the coal and mineral industry. With direct relevance to the National Research Priorities: Water - a Critical Resource, this project will make contributions to the development of a more environmentally sustainable coal and mineral processing industry.Read moreRead less
Behaviour of particles in flotation froths. Froth flotation is widely used for the separation of mineral particles. Currently, there is an upper limit on the size of particles that can be treated. It has recently been found that the upper limit can be extended from a few hundreds of microns, up to millimetre sizes, by processing the particles in the froth. We will study the forces acting on particles in flotation froths, as well as froth drainage and entrainment, to find the factors that limit t ....Behaviour of particles in flotation froths. Froth flotation is widely used for the separation of mineral particles. Currently, there is an upper limit on the size of particles that can be treated. It has recently been found that the upper limit can be extended from a few hundreds of microns, up to millimetre sizes, by processing the particles in the froth. We will study the forces acting on particles in flotation froths, as well as froth drainage and entrainment, to find the factors that limit the flotation of large particles and objects. The work is relevant to water treatment and the separation of plastics for recycling.Read moreRead less