Abstract
The effect of electrolyte concentration on particle attachment and detachment under gravity was studied experimentally using an immersed system consisting of spherical polyethylene particles and a quartz plate. Experimental data were interpreted in terms of electrostatic and dispersive van dar Waals interactions on the basis of the heterocoagulation theory. The addition of potassium chloride to a suspension in a quartz cell at constant pH caused increase in the number of particles attached to the cell wall and decrease in the rate of particle detachment from the wall. These results are due to change in the depth of the secondary minimum of potential energy curves.
