Lime (material)

Lime is a calcium-containing inorganic mineral composed primarily of oxides, and

hydroxide, usually calcium oxide and/ or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for
calcium oxide which occurs as a product of coal-seam fires and in altered limestone
xenoliths in volcanic ejecta.[1] The word lime originates with its earliest use as building
mortar and has the sense of sticking or adhering.[2]

Limestone quarry in Brønnøy, Norway

These materials are still used in large quantities as building and engineering materials
(including limestone products, cement, concrete, and mortar), as chemical feedstocks,
and for sugar refining, among other uses. Lime industries and the use of many of the
resulting products date from prehistoric times in both the Old World and the New World.
Lime is used extensively for wastewater treatment with ferrous sulfate.

The rocks and minerals from which these materials are derived, typically limestone or
chalk, are composed primarily of calcium carbonate. They may be cut, crushed, or
pulverized and chemically altered. Burning (calcination) of these minerals in a lime kiln
converts them into the highly caustic material burnt lime, unslaked lime or quicklime
(calcium oxide) and, through subsequent addition of water, into the less caustic (but still
strongly alkaline) slaked lime or hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2), the process
of which is called slaking of lime.

When the term is encountered in an agricultural context, it usually refers to agricultural

lime, which today is usually crushed limestone, not a product of a lime kiln. Otherwise it
most commonly means slaked lime, as the more dangerous form is usually described
more specifically as quicklime or burnt lime.

Production

In the lime industry, limestone is a general term for rocks that contain 80% or more of
calcium or magnesium carbonate, including marble, chalk, oolite, and marl. Further
classification is done by composition as high calcium, argillaceous (clayey), silicious,
conglomerate, magnesian, dolomite, and other limestones.[3] Uncommon sources of
lime include coral, sea shells, calcite and ankerite.

Limestone is extracted from quarries or mines. Part of the extracted stone, selected
according to its chemical composition and optical granulometry, is calcinated at about
1,000 °C (1,830 °F) in different types of lime kilns to produce quicklime according to the
reaction:

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.

Before use, quicklime is hydrated, that is combined with water, called slaking, so
hydrated lime is also known as slaked lime, and is produced according to the reaction:

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.

Dry slaking is slaking quicklime with just enough water to hydrate the quicklime, but to
keep it as a powder; it is referred to as hydrated lime. In wet slaking, a slight excess of
water is added to hydrate the quicklime to a form referred to as lime putty.

Because lime has an adhesive property with bricks and stones, it is often used as
binding material in masonry works. It is also used in whitewashing as wall coat to adhere
the whitewash onto the wall.

Cycle

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The lime cycle for high-calcium lime

The process by which limestone (calcium carbonate) is converted to quicklime by

heating, then to slaked lime by hydration, and naturally reverts to calcium carbonate by
carbonation is called the lime cycle.[4] The conditions and compounds present during
each step of the lime cycle have a strong influence of the end product,[5] thus the
complex and varied physical nature of lime products.

An example is when slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) is mixed into a thick slurry with sand
and water to form mortar for building purposes. When the masonry has been laid, the
slaked lime in the mortar slowly begins to react with carbon dioxide to form calcium
carbonate (limestone) according to the reaction:

Ca(OH)2 + CO2 → CaCO3 + H2O.

The carbon dioxide that takes part in this reaction is principally available in the air or
dissolved in rainwater[6] so pure lime mortar will not recarbonate under water or inside a
thick masonry wall.

The lime cycle for dolomitic and magnesium lime is not well understood[5] but more
complex because the magnesium compounds also slake to periclase which slake more
slowly than calcium oxide and when hydrated produce several other compounds thus
these limes contain inclusions of portlandite, brucite, magnesite, and other magnesium
hydroxycarbonate compounds. These magnesium compounds have very limited,
contradictory research which questions whether they "...may be significantly reactive
with acid rain, which could lead to the formation of magnesium sulfate salts."[7]
Magnesium sulfate salts may damage the mortar when they dry and recrystalize due to
expansion of the crystals as they form which is known as sulfate attack.

Building materials

Lime used in building materials is broadly classified as "pure", "hydraulic", and "poor"
lime;[8] can be natural or artificial; and may be further identified by its magnesium
content such as dolomitic or magnesium lime. Uses include lime mortar, lime plaster,
lime render, lime-ash floors, tabby concrete, whitewash, silicate mineral paint, and
limestone blocks which may be of many types. The qualities of the many types of
processed lime affect how they are used. The Romans used two types of lime mortar to
make Roman concrete, which allowed them to revolutionize architecture, sometimes
called the Concrete revolution.

Lime has many complex qualities as a building product including workability which
includes cohesion, adhesion, air content, water content, crystal shape, board-life,
spreadability, and flowability; bond strength; comprehensive strength; setting time;
sand-carrying capacity; hydrolocity; free lime content; vapor permeability; flexibility; and
resistance to sulfates. These qualities are affected by many factors during each step of
manufacturing and installation, including the original ingredients of the source of lime;
added ingredients before and during firing including inclusion of compounds from the
fuel exhaust; firing temperature and duration; method of slaking including a hot mix
(quicklime added to sand and water to make mortar), dry slaking and wet slaking; ratio of
the mixture with aggregates and water; the sizes and types of aggregate; contaminants
in the mixing water; workmanship; and rate of drying during curing.[9]

Pure lime is also known as rich, common, air, slaked, slack, pickling, hydrated, and high
calcium lime. It consists primarily of calcium hydroxide which is derived by slaking