Calcium Carbonate

Brief Overview

Calcium carbonate is known by the formula CaCO₃. It comprises 4 % of the earth’s total crust and is found in eggshells, snails, mineral rocks, pearls, shells of marine organisms, and so on. It is an odorless, tasteless powder used in health supplements, the agricultural industry, environmental applications, and many more. Calcium carbonate is an important ingredient for agricultural lime. Agricultural lime is primarily used for making the soil easy to work with. Calcium carbonate is widely used in manufacturing health supplements, though they are good for health, anything in large quantity is hazardous.

Manufacturing Process

Most of the calcium carbonate used daily is obtained from mining and quarrying. For high-grade purity, calcium carbonate is obtained from pure marble. This is used in pharmaceutical applications. Another synthetic way to produce calcium carbonate is to dilute calcium oxide with water to get calcium hydroxide. Then carbon dioxide is passed through a solution of calcium hydroxide to obtain precipitated calcium carbonate.

Food Industry 

Calcium carbonate is used as a food additive to regulate acidity levels, prevent spoilage, and improve the texture of many foods, such as baked goods, cereals, and dairy products.

Pharmaceutical Industry

Calcium carbonate is used as a calcium supplement in the pharmaceutical industry and as an excipient in tablet formulations to improve their mechanical strength.

Paper Industry

Calcium carbonate is used as a coating pigment and filler in the paper industry, where it improves the brightness, opacity, and bulk of paper. It is also used as a sizing agent to reduce paper porosity and improve printing quality.