Lime pellets
Lime pellets are a residual of the drinking water softening process. They are round, measure about a millimetre in diameter, and consist primarily of calcium carbonate. Their colouration ranges from white to yellowish/blond, and from grey to brown, depending on the location. The colour is for the most part determined by the (traces of) iron, organic matter and manganese they contain. The pellets are produced throughout the Netherlands and in Belgian Flanders at more than 50 water production locations.
The softening process involves the use of a seed material, measuring 0.2-0.6 mm, upon which the calcite crystallises to eventually form a lime pellet. This seed can consist of river sand, garnet sand or calcite. The pellet’s nucleus can therefore be made of one of these three materials, and accounts for 3-4% m/m. Naturally, if the seed is made of calcite then the lime pellet can be considered ‘pure’.
The lime pellets have REACH registrations, resource certificates (Belgium) and are approved for use as lime fertilisers.
AquaMinerals has an extensive database containing analyses of lime pellets from all the source locations. Also, over the past few years, various research projects have been carried out into the pellets’ properties and their processing possibilities, and numerous applications have been investigated. The results of this work are available on request.
Lime pellet applications include:
- Raw material in glass production
- Feed in poultry sector
- Raw material for (bio) composites
- Lime fertiliser for consumer gardens
- Lime fertilisers for agriculture and horticulture
- Artificial turf fields
- (Lying) cubicles for cows
- Neutralization of wastewater
- Seed material in drinking water production
- Remineralisation of water
Details are available on request. For more information click here.