Agriculture
Various mixtures of lime, limestone and dolomite are used in agriculture and forestry, both for correcting acidity in the soil and for adding nutrients which contain magnesium and calcium.
Chemical
Lime is used in the production of calcium carbide, propylene oxide, sodium carbonate and glycerine. It is also a reagent in the production of calcium-based compounds and in processes where pH modification is necessary.
Civil engineering
Lime is used to dry out damp soil and to improve the clay soils used in earthworks. Hydrated lime improves the performance of the asphalt mixes used for road surfacing.
Building & Construction
Lime-based mortars are often used in masonry and in plaster mixes for building facades. In addition, lime is being used increasingly in modern building materials, such as aerated concrete and sand-lime bricks.
Flue Gas Treatment
Lime is used to neutralise flue-gas pollutants such as sulphur and chlorine. Blended with additives, it captures heavy metals, dioxins and furans.
Glass
Dolomite is mainly used in the float glass industry. This source of magnesium acts as a stabiliser to improve the general resistance of glass to natural or chemical attack.
Iron & Steel
About 40 kilograms of lime are necessary to produce 1 tonne of pure steel. Lime and dolime are essential for slag formation. They play an important role in desulphurising, and help to protect the refractory linings.
Non-ferrous
The copper industry uses lime as an agent for pH regulation in the flotation process. In aluminium production it is used to extract silica compounds. Lime is also used to purify gold and silver and in the production of uranium.
Pulp & Paper
Lime is used to reconstitute caustic soda in the pulp-making process. Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) made from quicklime is a high quality filler in papermaking, where lime is also used to soften the process water.
Refractories
Dead-burned dolomite is used both as a refractory product in granular form to repair linings, as well as for making the bricks used in the refractory linings of casting moulds and cement kilns.
Water treatment
Lime is essential for adjusting pH levels and for softening drinking and process water, as well as for treating urban and industrial waste water. Quicklime is widely used for stabilising urban and industrial residual sludge.
Mining
Thanks to its Neutralac® reagents and technology, Lhoist is developing new solutions to treat and prevent acidification or other pollutants resulting from mining activities.
Wastewater and sludge
Neutralac® is the global Lhoist brand for products and services in sludge treatment.
In wastewater treatment plants (both urban or industrial), lime is widely used for correcting the pH balance of acidic waters, for precipitating heavy metals and phosphates, and for its flocculating action.
Lime is widely used for stabilising industrial residual sludge or dredging sludge and for treating urban biosolids before agricultural re-use or incineration.
Lime helps coagulation, makes sludge easier to handle, prevents fermentation, limits odours, eliminates pathogens and holds metallic ions in an insoluble form. It also enriches the sludge with calcium and magnesium (when dolomitic lime is used), both of which are beneficial for agricultural use.
In addition, lime is used to treat soils polluted with hydrocarbons.
