Albert Rösti visits KFN to learn more about its carbon capture project

KFN recently presented its innovative project “Carbon Capture at KFN” on  occasion of the visit from Federal Councillor Albert Rösti. The project’s objective is to capture the carbon emissions from the calcination reaction that occurs in KFN’s lime kiln. With such a carbon capture approach, KFN can reduce its carbon footprint substantially and get a step closer towards climate neutrality.

Peter Briner, CEO of Peter Briner AG, shows the benefits of lime hydrate for farming, having emanated from the filters of KFN’s production.

Peter Briner AG specializes in organic farm fertilizer and recycled manure. For a number of years, the company also offers hydrated lime. This is a by-product created by the burning and slaking of lime, captured in the filters of KFN. Why lime is crucial for fertile grounds and what other benefits hydrated lime has to offer in farming explains Peter Briner. Being the founder and CEO of Peter Briner AG, he has occupied himself for over 30 years with the optimum nutrient supply for farm soils.

KFN uses its own sewage treatment facility to create a water cycle

In the course of its lime production, KFN cleans thousands of tons of rock every year. For this, it uses an internal water cycle. Thanks to its own sewage treatment facility, there is no sewage. 

Switzerland’s only lime factory is of national importance

Lime products can be put to great variety of uses and are irreplaceable in many industries. Being Switzerland’s only lime factory, KFN is of decisive importance when it comes to supplying its country with this raw material.

Research proves numerous positive effects of slaked lime

Adding slaked lime to asphalt mixtures verifiably leads to a 25 per cent longer useful life. This in turn makes a complete refurbishment unneccessary, thus cutting back on the emissions of critical climate-relevant gases by 23 per cent.

Residual CO2 content of quicklime a bare 0.5 %

KFN’s new kiln was ignited for the first time last October, as it had been planned. Thanks to its innovative technology it can be used to produce quicklime with a very low residual CO2 content and very high reactivity.

Slaked lime put to use in the production of whey and lactose

A very large variety of products can be made from milk, not just cream, cheese, yoghurt and butter. Milk is also the basic ingredient for some functional products. Slaked lime plays a significant role in their production.

Affordable raw materials to control the PH value

The European paper industry has just overcome a very moving time. While many mills made the switch from caustic soda to lime milk, many were subsequently closed due to overcapacities, others underwent a repositioning. An Austrian paper mill has returned to lime milk – and it plans to widen its use.

Calcium salts are used as flavor enhancers

Mondeléz, the confectionery giant, has found a method to enhance the taste of both sweet and savory foods. These include especially the salty, hot, sweet, bitter and fruity flavors found in chocolate. The ingredient responsible for this is calcium salt.

KFN sponsors calcium oxide at the César Ritz College

The number of uses of lime products is staggering – and constantly increasing. They are also used by confectioners. This was presented to his students by pastry chef and professor Javier Mercado recently: His impressive figures made from sugar stay dry thanks to calcium oxide.

by Dr. Dirk Sewing, Head of Research and Development, Kalkfabrik Netstal AG

Numerous KFN clients make a large variety of calcium salts based on KFN’s white lime products. These salts are used for a large part in the food and feed industries, and to a smaller scale also in the pharmaceutical industry. It is obvious that for these industries there are a very strict requirements referring to the purity. The purity of the lime product, as a rule of thumb, has to be safeguarded by complying with the specifications set out for food additives. Additionally, there are legal limits for the final products of our clients.

nekablanc 0 (extra fine calcium hydroxide) meets the high product requirements as a raw material for stabilizing plastic additives. In terms of purity and fineness, nekablanc 0 has secured a top position among the world's hydrated lime hydrates.

An unusual lime application comes from Mexico. There, large quantities of maize kernels are soaked in very dilute, almost boiling milk of lime (with 1% lime content) for 20 to 45 minutes.

Since 2012, the Kalkfabrik Netstal AG is certified for the production of lime products for food. Since that date, the high-quality calcium oxide and calcium hydroxide products of Netstal can be purchased as guaranteed food safe. The certification was a logic consequence of the high purity of KFN lime, known for many years.

In the past years, thanks to the extraordinary purity of the KFN lime products, it has been possible to find more customers in the food, animal feed and pharmaceutical sectors. To guarantee a constant hygiene in the lime production to these customers, in 2011 the executive board decided to apply for the certification according to ISO 22000. The following year this intention has been successfully implemented: since 2012 KFN disposes of the respective certificate. In the meanwhile, the global customers’ demands have increased so much, that for the next deadline an extension to FSSC 22000* is sought.

Soil treatment with lime has been known since ancient times. It was technically developed in the 1950s to consolidate the underfloor of motorways, railway track installations and airfields. This soil treatment could spread quite widely, as hereto only simple operations are needed and it is therefore affordable and very effective. Thanks to the soil improvement with lime, soils that are otherwise useless become good installable construction materials. Soil replacement as well as difficulties in finding a landfill are avoided. A standstill at the construction site in case of bad weather can be prevented with a soil treatment with lime and in this way, a continuous building implementation will be reached.

Wound healing using lime hydrate patented

The disinfecting effects of lime have been known for centuries. Now, lime hydrate can be used directly for wound healing. In a current patent filing, the wound healing effects of a mixture of a preparation of lime hydrate and oil are described. The highly pure calcium hydroxide from KFN is ideally suited for this disinfecting effect.

Preserving with lime

KFN’s high grade calcium oxide CaO and calcium hydroxide Ca(OH)₂ are used in the production of a preserving agent called calcium propionate.

lime to fight lime

Is it fighting fire with fire? You could almost think it’s true when we tell you that taking out calcium or lime from drinking water, a process called decalcification, is done with – lime! The explanation is both simple and fascinating. Calcium deposits or limescales from drinking water, chemically calcium carbonate, are created following simple chemical or physical processes: Carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere is captured by rain or ground water to become carbonic acid. If water containing this carbonic acid flows over lime, the carbonic acid dissolves the lime to become soluble calcium hydrogen carbonate. This calcium hydrogen carbonate stays in solution with the drinking water until that water evaporates or is heated. In that case, carbon dioxide (CO₂) and non-soluble calcium carbonate (limescale) re-emerge.

Do you know the different types of calcium carbonate?

 Famous siblings

Calcium carbonate does not always equal calcium carbonate. Many times, subtypes of calcium carbonate have more well-known names than calcium carbonate (the category) itself.