LIME: THE METALLURGICAL CHEMICAL
The largest single use of lime is in steel manufacturing, where it serves as a flux for removing impurities (silica, phosphorus and sulfur) in refining steel. It is used both in traditional basic oxygen furnaces (BOF) and the newer electric arc furnaces, as well as in secondary refining. Lime for use in the steel industry--both high calcium and dolomitic--must meet exacting specifications as to its physical and chemical properties. Without this high-quality lime, U.S. steel production would be crippled.
Lime is also essential to producing metals other than steel. Thus, lime is used to beneficiate copper ore, to make alumina and magnesia for use in aluminum and magnesium manufacture, to extract uranium, and to recover gold and silver.
