In Colombia there occurs a double salt, Na 2 CO 3 CaCO 3.5H 2 O, known as gay-lussite.
The duty of the limestone (CaCO 3) is to furnish enough lime to form with the gangue of the ore and the ash of the fuel a lime silicate or slag of such a composition (1) that it will melt at the temperature which it reaches at about level A, of fig.
Many are found as minerals, the more important of such naturally occurring carbonates being cerussite (lead carbonate, PbC03), malachite and azurite (both basic copper carbonates), calamine (zinc carbonate, ZnCO 3), witherite (barium carbonate, BaCO 3), strontianite (strontium carbonate, SrC03), calcite (calcium carbonate, CaC03), dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate, CaCO 3 MgCO 3), and sodium carbonate, Na 2 CO 3.
Calcium carbonate, CaCO 3, is of exceptionally wide distribution in both the mineral and animal kingdoms. It constitutes the bulk of the chalk deposits and limestone rocks; it forms over one-half of the mineral dolomite and the rock magnesium limestone; it occurs also as the dimorphous minerals aragonite (q.v.) and calcite (q.v.).
This lime is charged in the form of common quicklime, CaO, resulting from the calcination of a pure limestone, CaCO 3, which should be as free as possible from silica.