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Carbonates IGCSE Notes

Limestone is composed mainly of calcium carbonate and is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. It is formed from the remains of marine organisms or their shells. Limestone can be metamorphosed into marble by heat and pressure. Globally over 500 million tons of limestone are quarried annually. Limestone has many industrial uses including cement production, glass making, and iron extraction. Limestone is also used to neutralize acidic soil and water.

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540 views4 pages

Carbonates IGCSE Notes

Limestone is composed mainly of calcium carbonate and is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust. It is formed from the remains of marine organisms or their shells. Limestone can be metamorphosed into marble by heat and pressure. Globally over 500 million tons of limestone are quarried annually. Limestone has many industrial uses including cement production, glass making, and iron extraction. Limestone is also used to neutralize acidic soil and water.

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Misbah Kamran
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Limestone is composed of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in the form of the mineral calcite.

Chalk and marble are also made of calcite which is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust
after the different types of silicates (which include clay, granite and sandstone).

Chalk is made of the ‘shells’ of marine algae (that is, plants). It is a form of limestone. Most other
limestones are formed from the debris of animal structures, for example brachiopods and crinoids.

Marble is a metamorphic rock made of calcium carbonate. It is formed when limestone is subjected to
high pressures or high temperatures, or sometimes both acting together, to create crystals of calcium
carbonate in the rock.

In a typical year, in excess of 500 million tones of limestone are quarried worldwide. Although it is cheap
to quarry, as it is found near the surface, there are some environmental costs in its extraction.

Direct uses of limestone


Limestone has a variety of uses in, for example, the making of cement, road building, glass making and
the extraction of iron

Manufacture of lime

 Limestone consists mainly of calcium carbonate, CaCO3


 Lime which is calcium oxide, is manufactured from calcium carbonate
by thermal decomposition:

CaCO3 →  CaO + CO2

 Slaked lime, calcium hydroxide, is made by adding a small amount of water slowly to


calcium oxide:

CaO + H2O → Ca(OH)2

 Limewater is a solution of calcium hydroxide in water, hence it is alkaline


 The addition of carbon dioxide to calcium hydroxide produces the initial starting
material, calcium carbonate:

CO2 + Ca(OH)2 → CaCO3 + H2O

 This reaction is the basis of the standard chemical test for CO2

 
Ca(OH)2  solution turns cloudy when in the presence of CO2 gas due to the formation of
insoluble white calcium carbonate

 The combination of these three reactions constitute the limestone cycle

 
Diagra
m showing the stages in the limestone cycle

Uses of limestone and limestone products

 Limestone (calcium carbonate) is used in the manufacture of iron and cement


 In the production of iron, limestone is added to the blast furnace where it decomposes to
form lime (CaO) and carbon dioxide
 The lime reacts with silica impurities to form calcium silicate, which floats to the top of
the molten iron and is removed:

CaO + SiO2 → CaSiO3

 Cement production:

Limestone (or chalk) is mixed with clay (or shale) in a heated rotary kiln, using coal or
oil as the fuel. The material produced is called cement.
It contains a mixture of calcium aluminate (Ca(AlO2)2) and calcium silicate (CaSiO3).
The dry product is ground to a powder and then a little calcium sulfate (CaSO4) is added
to slow down the setting rate of the cement. When water is added to the mixture, slow
complex chemical changes occur, resulting in the formation of a hard interlocking mass
of crystals of hydrated calcium aluminate and silicate. Concrete is a mixture of cement
with stone chippings and sand, which help to give it body.

 CaCO3 is also used in treating excess acidity in soils and lakes where it is often preferred
to lime because it does not make the water in the soil alkaline
 Lime (calcium oxide) is used in lime mortar and in flue-gas desulfurization
 Flue-gas desulfurization involves spraying acidic sulfur dioxide emissions with jets of
slaked lime to reduce pollution by neutralising these gases before they leave the factory
chimneys
 It is also used in treating excess acidity in soils and lakes. If excess lime is used, however,
the water in the soil may become too alkaline
 Slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) is used in treating acidic soils and neutralising acidic
industrial wasted products

Manufacture of cement and concrete

Limestone (or chalk) is mixed with clay (or shale) in a heated rotary kiln, using coal or oil as the fuel
The material produced is called cement. It contains a mixture of calcium aluminate (Ca(AlO 2)2) and
calcium silicate (CaSiO3).
The dry product is ground to a powder and then a little calcium sulfate (CaSO 4) is added to slow
down the setting rate of the cement. When water is added to the mixture, slow complex chemical
changes occur, resulting in the formation of a hard interlocking mass of crystals of hydrated calcium
aluminate and silicate. Concrete is a mixture of cement with stone chippings and sand, which help to
give it body.

Neutralisation of acid soil

Powdered limestone is most often used to neutralize acid soil because it is cheaper than any form of lime
(calcium oxide), which has to be produced by heating limestone, and because it is slow acting and an
excess does not make the soil alkaline. The reaction of limestone with acidic soil can be shown by the
following ionic equation.

carbonate ion + hydrogen ion → carbon + water

CO3 (s) + 2H (aq) → CO2(g) + H2O(l)


2− +

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