Review of foam fractionation as a water treatment technology

• Published in: Separation science and technology Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 929 - 958
• Main Authors: Buckley, Thomas, Xu, Xiaoyong, Rudolph, Victor, Firouzi, Mahshid, Shukla, Pradeep
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 13.04.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Air-water interface; Dyes; Evolution; Foam fractionation; Foam separation; Food processing; Food waste; Fractionation; Groundwater; Groundwater treatment; Heavy metals; Industry; Metals; Parameter identification; PFAS; Pollutants; Soil remediation; surface-active compounds; Technology; Textiles; Transport processes; wastewater; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0149-6395; 1520-5754
• DOI: 10.1080/01496395.2021.1946698

Foam fractionation is a well-developed technology used to separate surface-active compounds from solution by exploiting their affinity for the air-water interface. The technology was founded in the 1940s and has since evolved into a key technology for treatment of many different pollutants from a variety of different industries such as textiles and dyes, heavy metals, proteins in food processing waste and even per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The technology has even progressed from a standard batch process to a continuous process with an applied reflux to being presently used as an in-situ groundwater remediation and soil remediation process. This review provides a snapshot of the historical evolution of foam fractionation, a discussion of the mechanism behind foam fractionation, the effect of key operating variables on the performance parameters, identification of the key transport processes that take place within a foam fractionation system, a review of the modeling of foam fractionation as a water treatment technology and a review of the applications of foam fractionation as a water treatment technology.