Lime market in Russia: Production is experiencing slight growth. Building lime market

Hydrated and quicklime (calcium hydroxide and oxide) is widely used in various industries. The main volume of lime use falls on the metallurgical industry, therefore, metallurgy manufacturers are one of the main producers of this material (for their own needs). Other notable consumers of quicklime are sugar refineries. The consumption of lime by the construction industry is approximately 30% of its total output.

The category "building lime" includes slaked (hydrated) lime and quicklime - burnt lumpy lime, ready for slaking, i.e. semifinished. This semi-finished product makes up about 10-15% of the total production volume, and the finished hydrated lime makes up a small volume.

A significant contribution to the consumption of quicklime is made by manufacturers of building materials - silicate bricks and cellular concrete. Approximately 6-8% of lime produced is intended for the production of silicate products, including gas silicate and aerated concrete blocks. Many sand-lime brick factories, which have been operating for a long time, have their own lime production. On the contrary, large newly established companies for the production of cellular concrete (aerated concrete / gas silicate), mainly buy lime. As the aerated concrete market continues to grow rapidly, the demand for lime will only continue to grow.

The main consumers of hydrated lime (fluff) are enterprises producing dry building mixes. Hydrated lime is produced in Russia in approximately the same amount: 100-120 thousand tons annually. Hydrated lime is the best of the known mineral components of dry building mixtures, which gives mixtures high plasticity (workability, workability), high water-retaining properties and also provides high adhesion of mortars to mineral (concrete, brick) and some non-mineral substrates (metal, wood). However, lime is only one of many components of mixtures.

In Russia as a whole, the share of lime consumption by dry mix producers is approximately the same 50%. The technical requirements for building lime are regulated by GOST 9179 and GOST 22688. The main requirements for the quality of hydrated lime used as part of MSSS: lime must be calcium, with low (

According to Vira-ArtStroy specialists, hydrated lime is also used as a mineral plasticizer and an additive that reduces shrinkage (cracking) in cement mortars, as well as the main binder in lime-sand plaster mortars. Plaster and masonry mortars can be prepared directly on the construction site or delivered from the mortar unit.

Not all concrete plants prepare masonry and plaster mortars with the addition of lime. these solutions are not in high demand. In St. Petersburg, lime mortars are not produced by any concrete plant; in Moscow, such mortars are offered quite often, although they note a sharp decline in the production of these products.

According to Yandex search data, residents of the Russian Federation were interested in lime 64,487 times in January 2016. Taking into account the index of regional popularity, most of these requests are in Moscow and the Moscow region - 10,197 (or 82%) requests, of which 7,659 requests or 81% are only in Moscow. The second place in this rating is occupied by the northern capital - 3,438 requests or 95% fall on St. Petersburg. Note that the popularity of more than 100% means that in this region there is an increased interest in this request, below 100% - reduced.

Together with "lime" users also searched for:
slaked lime 7 613
bleach 7 525
quicklime 7 164
buy lime 5 033
what kind of lime 3 086
building lime 2 339
lime production 2,265
lime price 2 047
lime + in water 1 835
whitewashing with lime 1 827
lime formula 1 652
lime application 1 415
lime sand 1 369
how much lime 1 295
bleach buy 1 223
lime slaking 1 161
composition of lime 1 157
lime gost 1 153
air lime 1 077
receipt of lime 1 046

Query similar to "lime":
fluff application 130
lime whitewash 616
whitewashing the walls 2 683
house whitewashing 438
whitewash + for trees buy 119
tree whitewashing 1 702
fluff + for the garden 59
GOST 9179840

If we trace the dynamics of the query "lime" in the search engine over the past two years (February 2014 - January 2016), then the graph shows that:
- the least of all Russians were interested in the query "lime" in the Yandex search engine in January 2016 (56995 requests), a close value in July 2014 (66089);
- the greatest interest in this request was in April 2015 (121694 requests).

According to the analysts of the Vira-ArtStroy company, the market dynamics for Moscow looks like this:
- Muscovites were least interested in the request in January 2016 (6589);
- the greatest interest in this request was in April 2014 (17003).

The graph below shows the dynamics of requests for "building materials", "interior design", "apartment renovation", "buy an apartment", "construction", "lime", taking into account the region (Moscow) for two years (February 2014 - January 2016) and their relationship.

According to ABARUS Market Research, more than 20 large Russian plants are constantly operating in the lime market of the European part of the Russian Federation. The largest factories offering lime for sale in the European part of Russia are Uglovsky Lime Plant (Novgorod Region), Pridonkhimstroy Izvest (Rossosh, Voronezh Region), Kopanishchensky Building Materials Plant (Voronezh Region), Soligalichsky lime plant. Lime (mainly hydrated) is exported to Russia mainly by the Belarusian company Zabudova. In addition, Ukrainian, Polish, Turkish hydrated lime periodically appears. The most popular among buyers are angular and rossosh lime. Moscow producers of dry mixes especially note the products of the Extor plant (Moscow), in St. Petersburg, hydrated lime is represented by products of only two manufacturers - Uglovsky Combine and Zabudov.

Before the crisis, the building lime market was slowly but surely growing. Analysis shows that this growth was 5-8% annually.

Source: Alto Consulting Group

According to the company CM Pro, in 2015, imports of building lime in the Russian Federation amounted to 124.8 thousand tons, which is 27.3% lower than last year. The share of quicklime in the total volume of lime imports to the Russian Federation in January-December 2015 amounted to 93.0%. According to the results of the year, 63% of construction lime was imported into the Russian Federation by road, 33% by rail and 4% by water. Exports in 2015 stood at 43.7 thousand tons, with a corresponding increase in volumes by 48.2% compared to 2014.

In January-November 2015, the volume of production of slaked and quicklime increased by 0.6% compared to the corresponding period in 2014 to 2,324.8 thousand tons. In November 2015, the production of this building material increased by 1.6% compared to November last year and amounted to 211.8 thousand tons In terms of building lime consumption in the reporting period, there is a negative trend: -1.8% compared to January-November 2014 year up to 2,400.5 thousand tons.

More economical in terms of fuel consumption and simplicity of design are furnaces that operate by the transfer method on short-flame fuel (anthracite or lean coal). The productivity of shaft transfer furnaces is 100-110 tons per day. The disadvantages of transfer furnaces include contamination of lime with fuel ash. More pure lime is obtained in shaft furnaces with remote fireboxes operating on long-flame fuel (lignite, firewood, peat), and in gas furnaces. However, these furnaces have somewhat lower productivity.

In shaft kilns, only hard rocks (limestone, marble, etc.) can be fired, while in rotary kilns, both hard rocks and soft rock sludge, such as chalk, can be fired. The main task during roasting is to ensure the maximum degree of CaCO decarbonization at a minimum temperature. An increase in temperature accelerates the decomposition reaction of calcium carbonate, but an excessively high firing temperature adversely affects the quality of the product, as the phenomenon of "burning" develops.

The most widely used for the production of lime are shaft kilns, the height of which reaches 20 m.

Shaft furnaces are distinguished by the type of fuel used in them and by the method of its combustion. In transfer furnaces, solid fuel is fed along with the raw material and burns between pieces of the fired material. Here, fuel with a low content of “volatiles” is used - anthracite, coke and lean grades of coal, which give a short flame when burned. In furnaces with remote furnaces, the latter are located along the outer perimeter of the furnace. They burn solid fuel (in whole or in part) and the resulting hot gases enter the firing zone. Long-flame fuel with a high content of "volatiles" is used, as well as peat, firewood, oil shale. In gas furnaces, the fuel is most often natural gas, which is fed directly into the shaft furnace and burned in the material bed.

Rotary kilns make it possible to obtain high-quality soft-burned lime from small-sized limestone and from soft carbonate rocks (chalk, tuff, limestone-shell rock), which cannot be fired in shaft kilns due to the tendency of these materials to “hang” in the mine, leading to a violation of the firing technology.

The length of lime-burning rotary kilns is 30-100 m with a diameter of 1.8-3 m, the productivity reaches 400-500 tons/day, which is 2-4 times higher than that of shaft kilns. One of the most important technological advantages of lime burning in rotary kilns is the short time it takes for the material to pass from the place of loading to the exit from the kiln, which ensures the efficiency of process control. Rotary kilns provide a compact technological scheme, allow you to automate the process and reduce capital costs for the construction of workshops. In rotary kilns, lime of high quality can be obtained by firing at medium and fairly high temperatures. Due to the short residence time of the material in the furnace, the risk of overburning in them is minimal. At the same time, lime is much more homogeneous in composition and contains fewer impurities.

Fig 1.2.

Scheme of roasting ground limestone in a rotary kiln

The quality of lump lime is significantly reduced by the presence in it of non-extinguishing pieces (underburnt) and pieces that are slowly quenched (burnout), which can form due to uneven temperature distribution in lime kilns or uneven content of impurities in the raw material (for example, magnesium carbonate).

Quicklime lump cannot be used directly as a binder, it must be additionally crushed either by grinding in mills (quicklime is obtained) or by slaking with water (slaked lime).

To facilitate grinding in the mill, lump lime is pre-crushed to grains of 15–20 mm in size. Grinding is usually carried out in single- and double-chamber ball mills, but roller and roller mills can also be used, and if it is necessary to obtain a very fine powder, vibrating mills are used.

Along with lime without additives, lime with active mineral additives (ashes, slags) is also produced, in the latter case they are introduced into the mill unit, where joint grinding and mixing take place at the same time.

The fineness of quicklime grinding has a significant impact on its properties, especially in the presence of "burning".

In accordance with the requirements of GOST, quicklime should be crushed to a fineness, at which the residue when sieving the sample through sieves No. 02 and No. 008 should be no more than 1.5 and 15%, respectively. Typically, plants produce lime with residues on a No. 008 sieve of up to 2-7%, which approximately corresponds to a specific surface of 3500-5000 cm / g.

lime production can become a profitable business, even though large enterprises that need large volumes of technological products often have their own production facilities. The business pays off in eight months, a year. Lime is used in construction, in the chemical industry, in metallurgy, even in the food industry. Of course, each requires its own material. Yes, lime is different. Lime is the combined name of products made from limestone.

We are talking about air lime, the one that is used mainly in construction work. Demand for it is everywhere where they build and repair, that is, in any corner of our country. Air lime is divided into quicklime and slaked lime. If you want to succeed - produce different types of it. In the latter case (slaked lime), it is possible to produce hydrated lime, lime paste and milk.

Lime Plant: Lime Production Technology

1. Stages of lime production

In production, sedimentary rocks, various limestones, mostly dense, are used as raw materials; dolmites; a piece of chalk.

At the first stage, raw materials with a diameter of up to 300 mm are crushed.
Then, it is sorted: divided into fractions.
Fine (up to 5 mm), processed into lime flour.
The larger one, after weighing, is mixed with fuel and fired in special furnaces. The fuel may be coal, gas or oil. Fuel consumption and productivity depend on which furnace has been chosen for production.
The lime is then cooled in refrigeration equipment and processed.
In the production of ground quicklime, it is simply ground.

Or the lime is quenched:

1. Extinguishing in fluff. Carried out in hydrators. They are continuous and intermittent. Lime is quenched with steam for half an hour to forty minutes, then it ages.
2. Quenching into dough. In the production of lime, this method is rarely used, since it is quite complicated. The boil is crushed to 5 cm and quenched for about two hours in a bunker. Then, quenching is carried out with heated water. Large parts are separated from lime milk and defended in vats. The product is filtered.

Lime plant: area and equipment

For the production of lime, you need not a room of about two thousand square meters. Conventionally, it can be divided into the following sections: crushing, raw mill, mixing and storage, vertical shaft furnace, mill, storage and packaging.

Lime production: equipment

In the preparatory department you need the following equipment:

vibrating feeder.
Jaw crusher.
Belt conveyor.
Sleeve filter.
Sluice gate.
Screw conveyor.
Chain elevator.
Sorting facility.
Silage.
Plate feeder.
dispenser.
intermediate bunker.
Pressure filter.

To ensure the operation of the firing department, you will need the following:

Heater.
Bake.
Cyclone.
Smoke exhauster.
Gas-burner.
Fridge.

In the warehouse of finished products you need:

Belt conveyor.
Chain elevator.
Silo of finished products.

For the functioning of the lime production plant, trained personnel are needed:

In the crushing department there is a crusher operator, minders serving the conveyor and elevator.
In the sorting department - a screen minder and his assistant, conveyor and elevator minders.
Roasting and cooling are carried out by the calciner, his assistant, the minder of the conveyor and elevator, the drivers of pumps and conveyors, and the aspirator.
We also need support staff: an operator, a mechanic, an electrician, a laboratory assistant and cleaners.
Administrative staff.

It should also be noted that the production of lime is classified as dangerous. Therefore, the plant must strictly adhere to the established safety rules. Firstly, of course, these are the rules for working with equipment, and secondly, lime is dangerous, so you need to be careful when working with the product itself and with raw materials. So, carbon gas and carbon monoxide can lead to poisoning, lime dust is also harmful. Therefore, raw materials should not enter the workroom, workshops should also be equipped with dedusting devices, and workers should work in protective suits and respirators.

To open a lime plant with a capacity of 50 tons per day, at the initial stage, investments of six to seven million rubles are required.

Clients

All kinds of construction companies will become your clients, for example, those who produce bricks, concrete, building mixtures; enterprises engaged in the maintenance of public utilities; those that specialize in the production of garbage, etc. Assess the market in your region and, with this information, organize your own lime production.

Lime is obtained by roasting calcium-magnesium rocks

(thermal removal of carbon dioxide) from chalk, dolomites, limestone, marl. When limestone is roasted, the rock is decarbonized, that is, carbon dioxide is removed, leaving significant pores and providing a weight loss of about 40% and a volume loss of up to 10%.

Lime production can be carried out in lime kilns at enterprises or in small volumes at home.

Lime production process in kilns

To obtain lime, there are several types of kilns: floor, shaft, ring, rotating.

Gas-fired shaft furnaces are especially common in this industry due to the low cost of fuel and the small amount of its consumption.

The rocks from which the finished product is obtained are mined in quarries. Their dimensions are approximately 50–60 mm. For firing in shaft furnaces, smaller fractions are needed, for which, before filling into the furnace, pieces of rock are crushed to the required size. Then they are screened on screens to ensure a uniform fractional composition. After that, the prepared material is fired in furnaces at temperatures of 1050–1200 0 C, and cooled. Thus, quicklime is obtained, which is a semi-finished product. In the future, it must either be ground or quenched to obtain the final product (ground or slaked lime, respectively).

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For grinding lime, mainly ball or vibrating mills are used. The finished product looks like a fine flour-like powder.

For quenching, drum hydrators are used, in which the quenching process takes place with the help of water or steam. When ready, slaked lime resembles dough.

The final product differs in the following ways:

• magnesia, gray in color with magnesium oxide content from 5 to 20%;
• oily, perfectly white, with a content of magnesium oxide 4%, sand and clay up to 5%;
• skinny, yellow, containing 20 to 35% magnesium oxide

Manufacturing process at home

A much cheaper way is to produce lime at home. Given this factor, this method can be put on a commercial basis and develop your own profitable business.

Lime is always in demand in construction, during repairs, for whitewashing ceilings and walls. The process of making lime is not complicated.

To do this, you need a room and a furnace in which firing will be carried out.
It is especially convenient to engage in the production of lime for those who live near the location of quarries and limestone deposits. Mined stones must be crushed to a size of no more than 2 cm in diameter. Large fractions break quite easily.

The furnace must be fired with coal, as only coal can provide a sufficiently high temperature for decarbonization. When burning wood, such a temperature will be impossible to dial.
With sufficient heating of the coals, an even and not thick layer of limestone should be laid out on top, on top of which there should be another layer of hot coals. It is good to start such a process in the evening, then by morning the lime will be ready. Lime stones from the oven should be extinguished in a bucket of water, lowering them for 10 minutes. The white sediment that has settled to the bottom is the finished product. It only remains to strain through cheesecloth, and then dry. After several such cycles, it is possible to set up production experimentally and obtain a sufficiently high-quality product.

Thus, it is possible to obtain lime, both for own use and for more mass production.

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Despite the uncertain positive growth rates of commercial lime production in January-April 2016, it can already be assumed that the active phase of the crisis did not affect the leading enterprises and the current year will also end in a small plus.

Lime is an artificial material obtained by roasting natural carbonates (limestone, chalk). Lime consists entirely of free oxides of calcium and magnesium, and therefore has a very strong alkaline reaction. Due to this, it finds applications in a huge number of technological processes of various industries. At the same time, marketable products account for no more than 30% of lime produced in the country. Everything else is technological lime, produced and processed directly at enterprises that need it. In Russia, marketable lime is produced at about 90 plants, and in the coming years their number may increase.

Throughout 2015, Russian enterprises showed a steady upward trend in the production of marketable lime, although the production index was positive compared to the previous month only for 5 out of 12 months. According to the study, at the end of the year, the increase was 16.6%. The volume of commercial lime production in January-April 2016 in physical terms increased by 2.8% y/y.

The increase in the release of news in the Russian Federation is partly due to the annexation of Crimea (+400 thousand tons by the end of 2015). However, the growth in commercial lime production was also recorded for Russia within the old borders, and with almost the same dynamics as without Crimea (+ 15.4% in January - April 2016, + 2.8% in January - April 2016). The increase in lime production is due to its low cost against the backdrop of favorable market conditions in such consuming industries as ferrous metallurgy (a 6% increase in iron smelting) and the production of mineral fertilizers (+5.4%). IndexBox specialists point out that the situation in the building materials industry is more likely to have a retarding effect on the lime market.

Dynamics of lime production in Russia

The dynamics of production of marketable lime in value terms repeats the dynamics of production in physical terms, while having a more pronounced growth. Thus, in January-April 2015, the volume of production in value terms turned out to be 9.3% higher y/y. According to a study conducted by IndexBox specialists, fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate did not affect the production cost of the product, so producer prices largely depend on other factors, primarily the cost of electricity.

Lime production volume in Russia

Among the commodity categories, the main volume is accounted for by quicklime: in January - April 2016, 873 thousand tons were produced, which amounted to 91.7% of the total production volume in physical terms. The share of slaked lime decreased slightly this year due to higher production of cheap quicklime.

The commercial lime market is characterized by a small amount of transport deliveries, essentially representing a conglomerate of local markets. The most intense competition has developed in the market of Central Russia, where the majority of producers and consumers are concentrated. Among the most important lime-producing enterprises, the following should be singled out: LLC "FELS IZVEST" from the Kaluga region, JSC "UGLOVSKIY LIME WORKS" from the Novgorod region and JSC "SOLIGALICHSKY LIME WORKS" from the Kostroma region, as well as JSC "LIME PLANT" from the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Lime market in Russia: production geography

The largest volume of production among all federal districts falls on the Central Federal District: in January - April 2016, 467 thousand tons of marketable lime were produced there, which is 49% of the total volume of Russian production. In second place with a share of 14.9% is the Crimean Federal District, in third place is the Urals Federal District with a share of 8.9%. Together, these federal districts accounted for 72.8% of Russian production in the first months of 2016, and compared to last year, their contribution remained virtually unchanged. The stable distribution of shares in the total volume of production shows a uniform intra-annual use of capacities in all federal districts.

Russian manufacturers are primarily focused on the domestic market. The role of foreign trade relations in the lime market is minimal.

As of 2015, about ten investment projects with a total capacity of over 1 million tons were being implemented in the industry. The emergence of new players will lead to increased competition and a decrease in the profitability of most manufacturers. Events will develop especially dramatically in the case of the forecasted by analysts for 2017-2018. strengthening of the ruble, which will reduce the profitability of a number of industries that consume marketable lime.