Quality of technological limestone quality as an important aspect of the efficiency of sugar beet factories

Abstract

The authors studied 252 samples of limestone mined in 2014-2020 on the territory of 5 fields located in 2 regions of the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation. Limestone quality was assessed by the content of calcium carbonate and associated impurities. According to the results of the assessment, a number of deposits were formed in decreasing limestone quality. The highest quality was noted at the East-Bernikovskoe deposit (Tula region), containing on average 95.3% of calcium carbonate. Through the example of 10 beet sugar factories located in 5 regions of the Central Federal District, the influence of the quality of limestone on its consumption in sugar production was assessed. The authors studied the data on the consumption of limestone of the considered deposits at sugar beet factories, which was used in the period from 2014 to 2020. According to the results, a number of deposits were determined to increase the consumption of limestone in the production of sugar, which coincided with a number in terms of decreasing quality. A lower consumption of limestone was noted at beet sugar factories that used limestone from the East-Bernikovskoe (in average 3.81% during the studied period). Therefore, the choice of limestone of a certain deposit for the use in sugar production is a factor in enhancement of operating efficiency of beet sugar factories.