Synthesis of Sustainable and High Purity of Quicklime Derived from Calcination of Eggshell Waste in a Laboratory-Scale Rotary Furnace

Quick lime or calcium oxide has attracted significant attention as a sustainable material to be used as fillers and catalysts in a broad range of industries. The quick lime derived from calcination of eggshell waste in a laboratory-scale rotary furnace is reported in this study. The eggshell waste was prepared by washing several times, drying in the sun, grinding and sieving through a 250 micrometers sieve size. Calcination of the sieved eggshells waste was conducted in a single zone rotary tube furnace at 800 °C with 5 degree slope and at 1 rpm. Both physical and chemical properties of the calcium oxide derived from the calcination of eggshell waste were systematically investigated by various scientific instruments. The results from powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence: (XRF) showed that most of the calcium carbonate in the eggshell waste was thermally transformed to nano-calcium oxide with mean crystallite size of 47.5 nm and with a purity of 97.8%. The results from this study indicated the optimum conditions and the possibility for mass production of nano-calcium oxide via rotary furnace and have shown that the obtained nano-calcium oxide is comparable to the commercial chemical.