Other Uses of Limestone

Limestone and calcium carbonate products are used in a wide range of industries 

The products can largely be divided into three categories  

The chemical and physical properties which are exploited include  

The applications described in this chapter are summarised in Table 12.1. 

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Table 12.1. Other uses of limestone/calcium carbonate...

Portland Cement Manufacture. The second greatest use of limestone is as raw material in the manufacture of Pordand cement (10). The average limestone factor per ton of Pordand cement is 1.0—1.1 t of pulverized limestone. The limestone, calcined to lime in the cement rotary kiln, combines with siUca and alumina to form tricalcium siUcate and tricalcium aluminate and other lesser cementing compounds (see Cement). Most cement companies operate captive limestone quarries. 

Another thermally efficient kiln is the modem mixed-feed vertical kiln ia which coke is admixed with 8.5—20 cm lump limestone and charged into the top of the vertical kiln by a mobile, overhead charging system. However, use of this kiln is waning since the quaUty of mixed-feed kiln lime does not equal that of the other three kilns described above, owing to ash contamination from the coke and poorer reactivity and to the higher cost of coke in most areas. 

Mineral Feed. Mineral feed supplements for domestic animals and fowl usually contain a pure form of pulverized limestone. In fact, some state laws require the supplement to be at least 35% available calcium. Other sources of calcium are bone meal and dicalcium phosphate. Use as mineral feed has been a steadily growing market for limestone. The material is ground to 90% minus 0.15 mm (100 mesh) or 80% minus 0.9074 mm (200 mesh), is low in silica, and has strict tolerances on arsenic and fluorine (see Feeds and feed additives). 

Plastics. The fastest-growing use of whiting (microcarbonate fillers) is in the plastics industry where dry, pulverized limestone is used intensively for most types of plastics. Other carbonate fillers, precipitated calcium carbonate, oyster sheU, marble, and wet-ground limestone, are also used. 

Other Uses. Other uses include intermediate chemical products. Overall, these uses account for 15—20% of sulfur consumption, largely in the form of sulfuric acid but also some elemental sulfur that is used directly, as in mbber vulcanization. Sulfur is also converted to sulfur trioxide and thiosulfate for use in improving the efficiency of electrostatic precipitators and limestone/lime wet flue-gas desulfurization systems at power stations (68). These miscellaneous uses, especially those involving sulfuric acid, are intimately associated with practically all elements of the industrial and chemical complexes worldwide. 

Other uses for coal-tar pitch include production as a binder for foundry cores, as a sealant for dry batteries, and in the manufacture of clay pigeons. PeUeted pitch used as the binder in foundry cores is a hard pitch suppHed as spherical granules which are formed by a spray-cooling process. Clay pigeons consist of disks molded from a mixture of hard pitch and a mineral filler such as clay or limestone dust. 

Cement. Portland cement, a mixture of calcium siUcate and calcium aluminate minerals, is produduced by the calcination of argillaceous limestone or mixtures of limestone and clay (see Cement). Although other clays can be used, ka olin is preferred because of its alumina and siUca content and low level of impurities. It is especially desirable in the manufacture of white cement and other types requiring careful control of chemical composition. Air-floated ka olin, because of its low cost, is usually used. 

Coal pipelines have been built in countries such as France (8.8 km), and Russia (61 km), and pipelines are also used for transporting limestone, copper concentrates, magnetite, and gHsonite in other parts of the world. The first coal pipeline, built in Ohio, led to freight rate reductions. The pipeline stopped operation after introduction of the unit train, used exclusively to transport coal from the mine to an electric power generation station. 

Wet-Process Cement Ball, tube, and compartment mills of essentially the same construction as for the dry process are used for grinding. Water or clay shp is added at the reed end of the initial grinder, together with the roughly proportioned amounts of limestone and other components. 

Lime has been manufactured for more than 2000 years and was the product of one of the first chemical processes used in the U.S. by the early settlers (the manufacture of rum being another). The many uses of lime are so varied that limestone and lime production are greater than any other natural substance. It is a low-cost commodity in the U.S. because there are limestone deposits in many parts of the country. Lime plants are always close to the limestone source in order to minimize freight costs. 

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