ABSTRACT
Foam fractionation is a physically complex process, and it is for this reason that many analyses of it have tended to overlook the individual physical phenomena that occur but instead look for a more qualitative description. Certainly until 2008 there appears to have been no attempt to explain the process in the context of a detailed description of foam drainage rate other than the analyses by Lemlich and co-workers. However, along with knowledge of how and why some species adsorb to a gas-liquid interface, an understanding of foam hydrodynamics is a pillar upon which innovation in foam fractionation must be based.
