Market Applications
Much has been written about lime and its importance in commerce both in the past and in today's market economy. Its use predates recorded history. Most ancient languages have a word for calcium oxide. In Latin it is calx, from which the name of the element calcium is taken. In Old English, its name is lïm, which is the origin of the modern commercial name for calcium oxide, namely lime.
Mining
Both quicklime and hydrated lime are widely used in the flotation or recovery of many non-ferrous ores. Lime is used in the flotation of copper, zinc, nickel, and lead bearing ores.
Lime is used extensively in the recovery of gold and silver. Ores, either run of mine, milled, autoclaved, or roasted are combined with lime and a cyanide solution. The cyanide dissolves the gold and silver. Lime maintains proper pH in the cyanide solution keeping it in the liquid phase, preventing the formation of hydrogen cyanide gas and its loss into the atmosphere.
Lime in the Sugar Industry
Hydrated lime is essential to the production of sugar from both sugar cane and sugar beets. It is also used to purify sugar from other sources, such as maple or sorghum, although these are produced in much smaller quantities.
Sugar cane and sugar beets are harvested and processed with water to form raw juice, which has low pH and contains dissolved impurities. Hydrated lime is added to the juice to raise the pH and to react with the impurities to form insoluble calcium organic compounds that can be removed. Excess lime is removed by carbonation or by the addition of phosphoric acid. This process may be repeated several times depending on the purity of final product required.
- AGRICULTURE
- ASPHALT
- ALUMINUM INDUSTRY
- BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
- ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION
- FLUE GAS DESULFURIZATION
- FOOD INDUSTRY
- GLASS MINING
- PULP AND PAPER MANUFACTURE
- POLLUTION CONTROL
- SEWAGE TREATMENT
- SOIL STABILIZATION
- STEEL INDUSTRY
- SUGAR INDUSTRY
- WATER TREATMENT