Your Guide to Man’s Most Versatile Chemical
Lime (CaO), also known as quicklime, is a white, crystalline, alkaline substance produced by heating limestone (calcium carbonate) to high temperatures. During that process, carbon dioxide is driven off, leaving calcium oxide (lime) behind.
Society has made use of lime for centuries. Here are just a few examples:
- In Ancient Rome, lime was used in construction for making mortar and concrete. Romans mixed lime with volcanic ash to create a durable building material known as pozzolanic mortar.
- The alkaline properties of lime were thought to have healing effects in Ancient Greece and Rome.
- During the Middle Ages, lime was used to make mortar for cathedrals, castles and other structures in Medieval Europe.
- Various ancient cultures used agricultural lime (calcium carbonate) as a soil amendment in agricultural settings, neutralizing acidic soils and improving crop yields.
- The practice of adding lime to water to remove impurities and clarify it for daily use began in Ancient Egypt. It was also used as a drying agent.
- The steel industry used lime everyday during the Industrial Revolution to extract impurities from iron ore and produce higher-quality steel.
- In the 19th Century, lime became an important raw material in the chemical industry, used in the production of various chemicals including calcium hydroxide.
Lime is extracted from quarries all over the world, which leaves us wondering…where might we see lime in our daily lives? Look around and you’ll see it just about everywhere!
Those photos only scratch the surface of lime’s presence all around us. What makes lime so versatile? It can take on many different forms, depending on the application it’s needed for.
Common Uses of Quicklime
Quicklime is made by heating high-calcium limestone in specially designed kilns. It comes in a variety of sizes, most commonly used for applications including:
- soil stabilization for highway and building construction
- flue gas desulfurization
- steel manufacturing
- nonferrous metals processing
- paper manufacturing
- municipal sanitation
- water treatment
Common Uses of Hydrated Lime
Hydrated lime, also known as slaked lime, results from a reaction of quicklime with water in a hydrator. Common uses for this type of lime are:
- municipal sanitation
- water treatment
- stabilization of expansive clay soils
- anti-stripping for asphalt paving
- applications in the oilfield
- SO3 mitigation in the flue gas desulfurization process
Common Uses of Pulverized Limestone
Also known as powdered lime or ground limestone, pulverized limestone has been crushed and ground into a fine powder. The pulverization process increases the surface area of the limestone particles, making it more reactive and suitable for various applications:
- improve soil quality via neutralization
- stabilize soils, increasing strength and durability
- control sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities in the flue gas desulfurization process
- adjust the pH of acidic water and remove impurities
- concrete and asphalt production
- immobilize metals and reduce pollutants at contaminated sites
Common Uses of Lime Slurry
Lime Slurry is a user-friendly, cost-effective, free-flowing alkali suspension of calcium hydroxide in water, sometimes known as Milk of Lime. Uses include:
- stabilization of expansive clay soils
- municipal water treatment
- pH adjustment
- metals precipitation
- odor control
- flue gas desulfurization
- environmental applications
Name an industry, lime probably has a place in it. As evidenced by the applications listed above, there’s not much lime can’t do. At a glance, lime has a purpose in the following industries:
Lime just keeps getting better. If you want to talk to our team about man’s most versatile chemical, contact us today!
