Lime works
A lime works is used to extract limestone from quarries and to manufacture limestone products . Lime burning in the lime kiln is the most important refinement step. Calcium carbonate , the main component of lime, is converted into calcium oxide . The various products are brought to the buyers by silo trucks , as bulk goods or in bags .
Extraction of limestone
The limestone is usually extracted over days in quarries, rarely in mines . A possible mining site is explored in advance, geophysical methods and core drilling provide information about the location and quality of the rock. The deposit is mapped, three-dimensional models are developed on the computer and examined for their economic potential for mining. The licensing authorities weigh up all pending interests against each other before they release the site for mining. The operator must observe a large number of laws, ordinances and official provisions.
Since almost all limestone deposits in Germany are covered by surface layers, these must first be cleared before the limestone can be mined. The heaps are planted with green immediately after creation and serve as a noise and privacy screen. As a rule, the solid limestone is loosened and smashed by blasting , creating step-shaped excavation floors. In order to reduce the vibrations in the surrounding area, the explosions are detonated as many individual explosions every thousandth of a second.
Processing of the raw material
The quarry stones, the debris, are picked up with heavy excavators or wheel loaders and transported to the lime works by dump trucks or conveyor belts . Here is first a further mechanical crushing in a crusher . The raw material is often processed , in most lime works impurities can be separated from the stone by sieving, in other works the stones are washed. The washing water is fed into a clarification pond, where the solids settle and the pure water is fed back into the operating cycle.
The cleaned grain mixture is sorted on screening plants according to different grain sizes, and the raw stone is partially ground. Small-grained material can, possibly after a drying step, be used directly as fertilizer lime in agriculture . Some of the limestone is sold unburned and used directly as crushed stone , grit , sand or flour.
Lime quarry with lime works in the background
Conveyor belts for rubble stones
Lime works near Oker / Harlingerode with a break in the foreground
Lime works in Hastenrath
Istein lime works Overview of the factory premises
Lime kiln with buffer bunker and screening plants
Exit from the Isteiner block with belt conveyor to the 2 3500 m 2 silos
Limestone quarry in Schraplau , Saxony-Anhalt
Finishing
- Main article: Technical lime cycle
However, the main part of the limestone is burned in lime shaft kilns , resulting in quicklime . This is used in the construction industry and in environmental protection ( flue gas desulphurisation ). Quicklime is prepared by adding water to lime putty ( slaked lime ). This product is also used in the construction industry.
Special lime works
- Lengefeld lime works , mine in Saxony.
- Miltitz lime works Visitor mine in Saxony.
- Langenberg limestone quarry , mine near Göttingerode, Lower Saxony.
- Lime mine at Koenigsberg Visitor mine in Wolfstein, Rhineland-Palatinate
- Georg Behringer KG (Sengenthal near Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate) no longer in operation
- Rüdersdorf limestone quarry near Berlin
- North Limestone (Lübeck)
- Fels (building material manufacturer) (Goslar)
- Rheinkalk Wülfrath
