What do you think of when you hear the word “lime?”
Do you think of little green fruit, used in margaritas? Or maybe an illness transported by mosquitos?
That’s not the kind of lime we’re talking about. We’re talking about the versatile mineral, the building block of construction and human progress that is a fundamental part of your everyday life, whether you realize it or not.
You probably woke up and showered this morning as you prepared for your day. Then you hopped in your car to drive to work and poured yourself a cup of coffee as you settled in at your desk. Before your workday had really even started, you had already used lime several times this morning.
Lime is used to neutralize and cleanse our drinking water. It’s also used in the sugar refining process, to help clarify and reduce the impurities from beets or cane. Lime products are used to clean water for soft drinks, provide a binding agent for the masa in tortillas, and even serve as a calcium supplement in your orange juice or baby food.
But it’s also used as an additive in asphalt for the roads we drive on, helping improve its cohesion, reduce stripping, and slow down the aging process. And a primary use remains in purifying steel and creating other building products like mortar and plaster. Chances are, the office you are sitting in was built using at least one type of lime product.
Oh, and that report your boss emailed you to print out while you were reading this? The paper has likely been bleached by calcium hypochlorite, another lime product.
Click around our site and learn more about the way that lime impacts you each and every day.
We’re lime, and we’re a part of your life.