Aphron applications--a review of recent and current research

A Molaei; K E Waters

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2014.12.001

Aphron applications--a review of recent and current research

Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2015 Feb:216:36-54. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2014.12.001. Epub 2014 Dec 15.

Authors

A Molaei¹, K E Waters²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University St, Montreal, Québec H3A 0C5, Canada.
² Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University St, Montreal, Québec H3A 0C5, Canada. Electronic address: kristian.waters@mcgill.ca.

PMID: 25578407
DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2014.12.001

Abstract

Colloidal aphrons are multi-layered stable bubbles (CGAs) or droplets (CLAs), surrounded by a thin surfactant film. The small size of the aphrons creates a system with a high interfacial area which can be pumped like water without collapsing. The high stability of colloidal aphrons due to a thin soapy shell surrounding the core, and high interfacial area make them of interest in many processes such as mineral processing, protein recovery, drilling fluids, separation of organic dyes from waste water, predispersed solvent extraction of dilute streams, clarification and purification of suspensions, soil remediation, material synthesis and immobilization of enzymes. This article aims to provide a comprehensive database in generation, characterization and applications of colloidal gas and liquid aphrons from more than 140 published works so far. The article also reports scale up, industrial applications, technical limitation regarding aphrons application and important future research scopes.

Keywords: CGA; CLA; Colloidal gas aphron; Colloidal liquid aphron; Microbubbles; Polyaphrons.