As the world looks to produce more crops on a shrinking amount of arable land, the soil amendment market continues to play a key role in meeting crop production goals. Limestone, an essential agronomic tool in managing soil pH for optimal crop production and nutrient utilization, is especially useful in these efforts, and continues to experience a growing market.
The benefits of pelletized lime have become fairly well known to growers in recent years, but lesser known are the benefits limestone quarries and other suppliers can gain from pelletizing limestone. The following information provides an overview on why more limestone suppliers are opting to offer pelletized lime.
1. A Premium Product Stream
Because pelletized lime is considered a premium product, by pelletizing limestone, quarries and suppliers have the opportunity to incorporate a higher-value product into their offerings, diversifying their product line and catering to an expanded audience.
The pelletizing process also allows for the inclusion of beneficial additives such as boron and zinc to further add performance or nutritive value, opening the door to specialty soil amendment production and custom products for niche markets.
2. Improved Transportation and Handling
Pelletizing significantly improves the handling and transportation qualities of a limestone product. Pelletized lime is nearly dust-free, meaning the production line and surrounding infrastructure stays cleaner, less product is lost in the form of dust, maintenance and cleanup time is reduced, and transportation is simplified.
Pelletized lime is also inherently more flowable, so transfers, whether between equipment or during loadout, are easy, clean, and more accurate.
3. Better Storage and Shelf Life
Not surprisingly, pelletized lime is also generally a more stable product that experiences minimal caking, improving its storage capabilities and shelf life.
Raw and pelletized lime
4. Control Over Particle Characteristics
The ability to control particle characteristics is essential in meeting precise market demands for both traditional and specialty products, particularly as growers become more discerning and demand higher-quality products.
Most limestone pelletizing operations employ a pin mixer and disc pelletizer approach to agglomeration, which offers a high level of control over a wide range of particle characteristics, including:
- Particle size distribution
- Surface area to volume ratio
- Crush strength
- Green/Wet strength
- Amount of attrition
- Solubility
5. Better Blending Characteristics
The granular product created by the pelletizing process offers greater opportunities for blending compared to powdered or crushed limestone.
Granular limestone is easily and cleanly metered, blending smoothly with other granular products, allowing producers to create specific blends or sell their limestone to fertilizer blending plants for an additional revenue stream.
Testing & Process Development for Pelletized Lime
As all limestone quarry operators know, sources of limestone can vary widely in their physical and chemical composition. This variation causes different sources of limestone to respond to pelletizing in unique ways, making feasibility testing and process development work essential to designing a commercial-scale pelletizing line that can reliably and efficiently yield the desired product quality.
Limestone suppliers can take advantage of the diverse and comprehensive limestone testing capabilities of the FEECO Innovation Center to illustrate proof of concept, proof of product, proof of process, and more, while gathering the data required for commercial-scale equipment design and scale-up.
The Innovation Center offers batch- and pilot-scale testing for pelletizing, including continuous loop testing involving drying and a recycle circuit. In addition to testing drying as part of the agglomeration process, dryer testing for pretreatment of feedstock is also available.
Limestone pellet samples produced via testing in the FEECO Innovation Center
Conclusion
From a premium product offering, to precision control over particle characteristics, and so much more, limestone quarries and other suppliers stand to gain several benefits from pelletizing their product. Developing an efficient pelletizing line, however, relies on thorough testing and development, as limestone characteristics can vary significantly.
FEECO is the industry’s leading expert on producing a quality limestone product. From feasibility testing and process development, to custom pelletizing and drying equipment, parts and service support, and even process audits for existing pelletizing lines, limestone suppliers rely on FEECO for unmatched knowledge and experience. For more information on our limestone capabilities, contact us today!