Characterization of Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Oxide, and Calcium Hydroxide as Starting Point to the Improvement of Lime for Their Use in Construction

In this paper a complete characterization of lime cycle transitions is described. ${\text{CaCO}}_3$ was collected from a Mexican mine and was processed to obtain $\text{Ca}{\left(\text{OH}\right)}_2$ through CaO. When the calcium hydroxide interacted with the ${\text{CO}}_2$ in the air forming ${\text{CaCO}}_3$ , the lime cycle was completed. Crystal structure and spectroscopy characterization was carried out to get the knowledge of lime cycle ${\text{CaCO}}_3\to \text{CaO}\to \text{Ca}{\left(\text{OH}\right)}_2\to {\text{CaCO}}_3$ deeply. The changes in the crystalline structures were described using X-ray diffraction by powder to accomplish phase identification. Scanning electron microscopy was done to examine the morphology, topology, crystal structure, and crystalline growth habit. Dynamic light scattering was used to determine the particle-size distribution of $\text{Ca}{\left(\text{OH}\right)}_2$ . Fourier-transform infrared was done to identify molecules and atomic bonds. Finally, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry was done to get quantitative analyses. These results are a contribution to the restoration and construction industry fields, as well as a starting point to new possible applications of lime in current engineering.