Aim & Scope

The aim of NetFlot is to promote the competence, infrastructure and modelling capacities on flotation across scales. By collecting a significant number of partners from across the knowledge triangle (research labs, universities and business) and across Europe the network is continuously growing. The focus is on identification of infrastructure and existing flotation models that allow for data generation and model verification.

 

NetFlot offers the identified capacity to a targeted audience through a web-based interface. Further interested partners are welcome to contact us. The scope of the network implies the identification of needs for further model development, infrastructure investments (based on own and customer demands), and the estimation of the required costs and impacts.

 

We expect currently identifying a suite of flotation models and infrastructure characterized by different focal points, level of details, and scales of application (bottom up approach) and to grow with time.

Mediation of core competences in the field of Flotation:

Scientific and technological expert input is contributed by the project partners, who come from seven European countries across the knowledge triangle (research labs, higher education institutions, and companies). These experts represent the forefront of knowledge and innovation on identification of existing flotation models and of infrastructure that allow for data generation and model verification.

Building and promoting infrastructure:

Currently the infrastructure and expertise is dispersed across disciplines (geosciences, chemistry, physics, and engineering sciences, numerical modelling), needs to be identified, focused and linked. The most fundamental level (models, analytical tools, and infrastructure) addresses elemental physical processes, like multi-phase flow, turbulence, bubble and particle agglomeration (optical microscopy, fast X-ray CT, wire mesh sensors, PET, Multiphase Computational Fluid Dynamics) etc., chemical processes like aqueous speciation, physical-chemical sorption, complexation, molecular reactions at solid interfaces, design and characterization of selective reagents (UV-vis titration, Time Resolved Laser Fluorescence Spectroscopy (TRLFS), Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), Molecular Dynamics or similar) etc., respectively, or they are based on geochemical and geostatistic approaches (mineral associations quantified e.g. with FIB-SEM – 3D/2D and QEMSCAN mapping, Mineral Liberation Analysis (MLA)) etc.

Boosting Modelling Capacities:

The next step is the coupling of the most relevant fundamental features and processes by describing complex flotation processes. Suitable and robust computational methods must be identified, including multi-scale modelling, and parallel computing capacities. Once validated and parameterized such models shall actively support flotation automation tools.