A Fractal Characterisation of the Structure of Coal Froths

Abstract

Fractal geometry is beginning to find wide ranging practical applications in technology. It enables the description of structures that exhibit some degree of self-similarity or scale invariance, and has been found to be applicable to the characterisation of coal froths. The exact dimension used was the Sierpinski fractal, which gives a measure of the efficiency with which the entities of a system are covering the available space.

The froths that were examined all possessed a bi-modal fractal behaviour, and a significant parameter appears to be the breakpoint between these two regions. This breakpoint represents the ratio of larger to smaller bubbles within the froth, and its potential as an important indicator in a control strategy is briefly discussed.

Keywords:

• Froth flotation
• froth characterization
• Sierpinski fractal
• froth monitoring
• flotation control