When you use paper products, do you think about lime? Well you should, because lime has a vital role in both the quality of the paper products and the preservation of our land and water resources.
In technical terms, lime products are used in the pulp and paper industry in the recausticizing cycle to recycle sodium hydroxide for use in the pulp digester. Lime products can be used to scrub flue gas in on-site boilers and to treat industrial sludge and industrial waste water generated in the production process at pulp and paper mills.
So the next time you write on a piece of paper, or wrap something in paper, or read a newspaper, think lime!Lime products are also used to make precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), a chemically-formed calcium carbonate particle which is used as filler in paper. PCC improves the optical properties of paper and decreases the amount of pulp needed to make paper, subsequently reducing the number of trees needed. PCC is also used in other filler applications such as for plastics.