Theoretical analysis of the performance of a foam fractionation column

Abstract

A model system for theory and experiment which is relevant to foam fractionation consists of a column of foam moving through an inverted U-tube between two pools of surfactant solution. The foam drainage equation is used for a detailed theoretical analysis of this process. In a previous paper, we focused on the case where the lengths of the two legs are large. In this work, we examine the approach to the limiting case (i.e. the effects of finite leg lengths) and how it affects the performance of the fractionation column. We also briefly discuss some alternative set-ups that are of interest in industry and experiment, with numerical and analytical results to support them. Our analysis is shown to be generally applicable to a range of fractionation columns.