Quicklime

Quicklime is a calcium-containing inorganic material composed primarily of oxides, and hydroxide, usually calcium oxide and/or calcium hydroxide. Quicklime is also referred to as lime, unslaked lime, or burnt lime.

Pure quicklime is a white, caustic, alkaline powder composed of calcium oxide.

Uses

Quicklime is a thermal decomposition of lime, and is used to make building materials such as mortar or primitive concretes, as well as in the production of lye.

Quicklime can also be added to water to make limewater, or slaked lime.

Production Methods

Quicklime (or calcium oxide) is produced by the thermal decomposition of lime at temperatures of between 850 and 1200°C. This can be achieved by placing a source of powdered calcium carbonate such as pulverized limestone or seashells into a simple wood fire for a period of about 1 hour. The resulting lime should be use promptly as it reacts with CO₂ from the atmosphere to reform calcium carbonate.

Dependencies

• Calcium
  • Lime
    • Quicklime
      • Lime concrete
      • Lime mortar
      • Limestone

See also

• Lime concrete
• Lime mortar
• Limestone
• Kiln

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Lime_(material), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).