The introduction of calcium carbonate
What?
Calcium carbonate, one of the popular chemicals is encountered by us first in the classrooms in the form of chalk (formof CaCO3). It occurs naturally in minerals, chalk, marble, limestone, calcite, shells, pearl, etc. It is a white insoluble powder-like substance which is found in earths crust. It is prepared by passing carbon dioxide gas through calcium hydroxide which is commonly known as slaked lime.
Ca (OH)2 + CO2 CaCO3 + H2O
When it reacts with a dilute acid, it gives carbon dioxide as a by-product.
CaCO3+H2SO4 CaSO4+H2O+CO2
At 1200K, calcium carbonate decomposes and liberates carbon dioxide along with calcium oxide.
CaCO3 CaO + CO2
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite (most notably as limestone, which is a type of sedimentary rock consisting mainly of calcite) and is the main component of eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skeletons and pearls. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime and is created when calcium ions in hard water react with carbonate ions to create limescale. It has medical use as a calcium supplement or as an antacid.
what can be used for?
Calcium carbonate is used extensively in many industrial processes. Some of them are mentioned below:
Construction Industry
Mostly calcium carbonate is used either as a building material, or limestoneaggregatefor road building It is also used as an ingredient ofcement. However, because of weathering mainly caused byacid rain,calcium carbonate can no longer used for building purposes on its own. It can only be used as a raw primary substance for building materials.
Purification of iron
Calcium Carbonate is used for purifying iron fromiron orein ablast furnace. It is processedin situ to givecalcium oxide. This forms aslagwith various impurities present, and separates from the purified iron.
Oil industry
Calcium carbonate is added todrilling fluidsto act as formation-bridging and filter cake-sealing agent. Along with this it is also a weighting material which increases the density of drilling fluids to control the downward pressure.
pH corrector
Calcium carbonate is added toswimming pools, as apHcorrector for maintainingalkalinityand offsetting the acidic properties of thedisinfectantagent.
Sugar Industry
It is used as a raw material in therefining of sugarfromsugar beet; it is processed in a kiln withanthraciteto produce calcium oxide and carbon dioxide. This burnt lime is then slaked in fresh water to produce a calcium hydroxidesuspensionfor the precipitation of impurities in raw juice duringcarbonization.
In latex gloves
For growingSeacrete, calcium carbonate is a main source. It is a common filler material forlatex gloveswith the aim of achieving maximum saving in material and production costs.
Paper Industry
Ground calcium carbonate (GCC) and PCC are used as filler inpaperbecause they are cheaper thanwood fibre. GCC are the most important types of fillers currently used in terms of market volume.1020% calcium carbonate can be found inPrinting and writing paper. In North America, we can see that calcium carbonate has begun to replacekaolinin the production ofglossy paper. Europe has been practicing this as alkalinepapermakingor acid-free papermaking for some decades.
Extender in Paints
Here typically 30% by weight of the paint is either chalk or marble. It is also popular filler in plastics.
Ceramic glaze applications
Calcium carbonate is known aswhiting,and is a common ingredient for many glazes in its white powdered form.
ok, that's today's knowledge. We'll share the advantages and distanges of calcium carbonate next, hope to see you again!
