E529 Acidity regulator

• E529 It is known as a food additive to the FAO as an acidity regulator, a flour treatment agent, and as a leavener. It has E number E529.
• Light: When quicklime is heated to 2,400 °C (4,350 °F), it emits an intense glow. This form of illumination is known as a limelight and was used broadly in theatrical productions before the invention of electric lighting.
• Cement: E528 is a key ingredient in the process of making cement.
• As a cheap and widely available alkali. About 50% of the total quicklime production is converted to E529 before use. Both quick- and hydrated lime are used in the treatment of drinking water.
• Petroleum industry: Water detection pastes contain a mix of E529 and phenolphthalein. Should this paste come into contact with water in a fuel storage tank, the CaO reacts with the water to form E529. E529 has a high enough pH to turn the phenolphthalein a vivid purplish-pink color, thus indicating the presence of water.
• Paper: E529 is used to regenerate sodium hydroxide from sodium carbonate in the chemical recovery at Kraft pulp mills.
• Plaster: There is archeological evidence that Pre-Pottery Neolithic B humans used limestone-based plaster for flooring and other uses. Such Lime-ash floor remained in use until the late nineteenth century.
• Chemical or power production: Solid sprays or slurries of E529 can be used to remove sulfur dioxide from exhaust streams in a process called flue-gas desulfurization.
• Mining: Compressed lime cartridges exploit the exothermic properties of quicklime to break rock. A shot hole is drilled into the rock in the usual way and a sealed cartridge of quicklime is placed within and tamped. A quantity of water is then injected into the cartridge and the resulting release of steam, together with the greater volume of the residual hydrated solid, breaks the rock apart. The method does not work if the rock is particularly hard.

Disposal of corpses: Historically, it was believed that quicklime was efficacious in accelerating the decomposition of corpses. This was quite mistaken, and the application of quicklime can even promote preservation; although it can help eradicate the stench of decomposition, which may have led people to suppose it was the actual flesh that had been consumed.