Calcination thermokinetics of three Brazilian limestones.

Abstract

Limestone and lime producers inadvertently generate a considerable amount of fine material during their processing, consequently becoming a great environmental liability. As far as the industrial calcination process is concerned, there is still a need for an experimental survey on Arrhenius law parameters, as apparent frequency factor and activation energy, referring to Brazilian limestones. The knowledge of these thermokinetic parameters may contribute to energy saving during the industrial calcination process, as well as for allowing the use of limestone fines in other industrial applications. This study aimed to characterize three Brazilian limestones by focusing on their laboratory-scale calcination using both quasi-isothermal and non-isothermal methods to estimate their kinetic parameters. The non-isothermal method (by thermogravimetric analyses) allowed estimating the activation energy for each limestone through the high calcination rate ranges. However, the kinetic parameters estimated by the quasiisothermal method turned out in lower values, indicating the need to control the reactor atmosphere. Keywords: limestone, lime, calcination, thermochemistry, Arrhenius equation.