Hydrated lime industry has immense investment potential in the country as the steel industry is set for a boom and it is one of the key raw materials, but the industry will have to adopt eco-friendly and clean technologies, according to Y. Sivasagara Rao, former chairman and managing director of the Visakhaptnam Steel Plant.

He was speaking at the two-day conference on hydrated lime, ground calcium carbonate and precipitated calcium carbonate which concluded here on Sunday. It was organised by the Visakhapatnam chapter of the Indian Ceramic Association.

He said clean and cost-effective technologies were available for hydrated lime and the industry would have to adopt them. New effluent treatment technologies, recycling technologies and management strategies would have to be used to make the industry competitive and sustainable.

The lime industry would have to explore the various applications in agriculture, paper, fertiliser, painting and cement industries. He said lime was versatile chemical substance indispensable in many industrial processes, especially in the iron and steel industry, and the latter alone can sustain the industry.

H. Makhijani, President of the newly formed Indian Lime Association, and Arun Barad, Secretary, spoke about the applications of lime in various industries and the prospects and problems faced by the industry.

Atanu Datta, the organising secretary and a deputy general manager in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, spoke.

>sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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