Liquid lime alleys caustic concerns

Water and industrial effluent processors will now find the benefits of Kalic

Liquid Lime an even more attractive proposition, thanks to the wildly fluctuating

price of caustic soda on the world market. In the past few months alone, caustic

soda prices have rocketed by up to 50 per cent, emphasising the benefits of

Kalic’s stable pricing and making a switch to Kalic increasingly cost-effective.

Kalic Liquid Lime is a unique product comprising an 18 per cent suspension

of calcium hydroxide in water (Milk of Lime). The extremely small particles

make for a stable suspension with a large surface area to give rapid reactivity

and high efficiency for acid neutralisation and pH control. Kalic can also help

protect tanks, vessels, valves and pipework from corrosion, so plant and machinery

are less likely to be damaged. And its low freezing point (0ºC) significantly

reduces the need for lagging and trace heating of pipework, pumps and tanks.

User friendliness, logistical and environmental factors, cost-effectiveness

and rapid payback have all convinced Birds Eye Walls to switch to Liquid Lime

in place of caustic soda at its Phoenix ice cream factory in Gloucester.

Hygiene by-products

The hygiene process in a modern ice cream-making factory has its by-products:

in this case, a cocktail of milk, vegetable oils and fats, plus a sprinkling

of food particles, sugars, milk powders, flavourings, other ingredients and

trace quantities of cleaning chemicals. The result, though non toxic, cannot

be discharged into the environment without proper modification.

Environment officer at Walls, Paul Finch, explains: “The use of Kalic

is one way by which we want to comply and seek continuous improvement within

both ISO 14001 and the policy of our parent group, Unilever. Kalic has provided

us with a positive environmental impact, as well as cost savings. We anticipate

payback in less than a year as Kalic costs significantly less than bulk caustic

soda and is also far more user-friendly.”

The logistical problems of bulk storage also played an important consideration.

Caustic soda is not cheap to handle or store. It freezes at around 9ºC

and requires tanks which have to be lagged and heated for around nine months

of the year. It would have cost Walls more to store than Kalic, which freezes

at 0ºC, significantly reducing the need for lagging and trace heating of

pipework, pumps and tanks and is also easy to pump, handle and transport.