In this work, microbubble dispersed air flotation technique was applied for cadmium ions removal from wastewater aqueous solution. Experiments parameters such as pH (3, 4, 5, and 6), initial Cd(II) ions concentration (40, 80, and 120 mg/l) contact time( 2, 5, 10 , 15, and 20min), and surfactant (10, 20and 40mg/l) were studied in order to optimize the best conditions .The experimental results indicate that microbubbles were quite effective in removing cadmium ions and the anionic surfactant SDS was found to be more efficient than cationic CTAB in flotation process. 92.3% maximum removal efficiency achieved through 15min at pH 5, SDS surfactant concentration 20mg/l, flow rate250 cm3/min and at 40mg/l Cd(II) ions initial concentration. The removal efficiency of cadmium ion was predicted through 11 neurons hidden layer, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9997 between ANN outputs and the experimental data and through sensitivity analysis, pH was found to be most significant parameter (25.13 %).The kinetic flotation order for cadmium ions almost first order and the removal rate constant (k) increases with decreasing the initial metal concentration.
