Lime is one of those usually unseen products that has a profound effect on our daily lives. It is used in many important industrial processes including steel manufacture, building/construction, food industry, agriculture and many environmental applications to name just a few!

Lime is abundant in much of the UK through outcrops of limestone and chalk. It was burnt as early as the forth century BC where it was first used as a building material. The BLA is committed to broadening the public's knowledge of the benefits of lime as well as representing the interests of the UK lime sector in technical, promotional and any other matters of concern to the industry. The universal term "lime" includes both quicklime and hydrated lime.

How's lime formed?

• Quicklime (calcium oxide) is created by heating limestone or chalk (calcium carbonate) in a kiln to temperatures of over 900C This process emits carbon dioxide and is known as Calcination.
• Hydrated or slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) occurs when water is added. The water reacts with the quicklime, giving off heat, to form calcium hydroxide. This operation is called Hydrating.

The BLA members manufacture numerous different variations of the "lime" product based around these simple chemical reactions. It is this flexibility that allows lime to be used successfully in such a vast number of very different applications. The British Lime Association is a constituent body of the Mineral Products Association Ltd.

Please note this website is maintained to provide information and guidance on UK issues, products and applications of those products.