Kaiwu Huang recognized for fundamental research efforts of “exceptional scientific importance”
Paper on the control of bubble charges featured in Advances In Engineering
Kaiwu Huang, mining and minerals engineering postdoctoral associate, was recently recognized for his fundamental studies in flotation kinetics by Advances In Engineering, a journal aimed at showcasing research of exceptional scientific importance.
Huang’s paper, "Control of bubble charge potentials to improve the kinetics of bubble-particle interactions," is featured in Advances In Engineering’s current issue. The paper was originally published in the 2020 Volume 151 of Minerals Engineering magazine.
Working with Roe-Hoan Yoon, Virginia Tech University Distinguished professor, and co-author of the paper, Huang’s research focuses on the improvement of kinetics in flotation processes by controlling the surface charges of air bubbles.
The research was carried out at the Virginia Tech Center for Advanced Separation Technologies with funding from the U.S. National Energy Technology Laboratory and the Department of Energy.
During mineral flotation processes, whereby bubbles attach to particles inside a flotation cell, the attachment process is the result of a hydrophobic interaction. Since both particles and bubbles are negatively charged, the process is repulsive. However, if bubble surface charges can be inverted, the resulting electrical force becomes attractive, which can be used to control and enhance bubble-particle interactions, increasing the kinetics of the process.
“In this work we are trying to control the surface charges of bubbles, which is normally negative in water,” explained Huang. “If we can reverse this charge on the bubble’s surface so that it becomes positive, we can improve the kinetics of the flotation process.”
Having improved kinetics allows processing engineers to decrease the size of flotation cells, or increase the throughput into the cell over the same amount of time. Ultimately this translates to flotation processes that are more efficient, economical, and environmentally benign.
While the research is fundamental, it has wide-reaching impacts for practical mineral recovery operations. “Improving the kinetics of flotation can be applied to processes such as recovering coal, rare earths, and copper,” said Huang. “From this study we are now looking at ways to develop new flotation chemicals that can improve water-based deinking processes”
Huang earned his B.S. in mineral processing engineering from the China University of Mining & Technology in. 2013 and earned his M.S. (2015) and Ph.D. from Virginia Tech (2019). He has expertise in areas of flotation and colloid and surface and chemistry. His recent research efforts have focused on deinking flotation for paper recycling and the recovery of critical materials from coal and coal by products.