Going with the flow

摘要

Seeking to cut product waste and improve efficiency, Tarmac's Ballidon site chose Rota Val heavy-duty rotary valves to handle limestone powders and granules. Limestone is an extraordinary mineral. Described as the 'material of a thousand uses', Calcium Carbonate represents about a kilo of our bodyweight in the form of our bones, and calcium is the fifth most abundant element by mass in the human body. It is used extensively in foodstuffs such as baking and brewing, dairy products and even digestion aids, and in fertilisers, glues, pesticides, toothpaste, Pharmaceuticals and sugar refining. Other uses include construction and building materials such as cement and asphalt, plus agriculture, abrasives, adhesives, cosmetics, glass manufacture, drinking water treatment, floor covering, carpets, paper, paints, rubber and shower trays. There can be few other materials which have such a fundamental impact on modem human life, yet limestone is rarely accorded the widespread importance it deserves.