Lime (material)

Lime is a calcium-containing inorganic material in which carbonates, oxides, and hydroxides predominate. In the strict sense of the term, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name of the natural mineral (native lime) CaO which occurs as a product of coal seam fires and in altered limestone xenoliths in volcanic ejecta. The word "lime" originates with its earliest use as building mortar and has the sense of "sticking or adhering". 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) converts them into the highly caustic material "quicklime" (calcium oxide, CaO) 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". Lime kilns are the kilns used for lime burning and slaking.

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