MANUFACTURE OF LIME IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS * 



By L. W. Thuelow 

 {From the Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.) 



TWO PLATES 



The status of lime manufacture in the Philippine Islands has 

 always been far from satisfactory. In many sections lime is 

 made in considerable quantities, but both the raw materials and 

 the kilns employed usually prohibit production of a really good 

 substance. Lime is often made from sea shells that are poorly 

 cleaned and, consequently, yield an impure product. The kilns 

 are frequently simply holes in the ground in which the limestone 

 and wood are placed. In general, such arrangements are very 

 wasteful in fuel and labor and make the cost of production of 

 an inferior lime higher than it should be for a good one under 

 proper conditions. However, in some cases these processes are 

 more highly developed; a forced draft is sometimes used, and 

 a fair product is obtained. Lime manufactured by crude meth- 

 ods is often satisfactory for ordinary construction work, but 

 it is not at all suitable for chemical purposes, such as sugar 

 manufacture. Since 1912 the demand for a better grade of lime 

 has been so insistent that much has been imported into the Phil- 

 ippine Islands at considerable expense. 



The investigations of lime manufacture now under way in 

 the Bureau of Science were undertaken to encourage the local 

 lime industry by pointing out the best deposits of limestone and 

 the type of kiln best suited for the economical production of 

 the material. The first kiln was too small to give results entirely 

 comparable with commercial practice and owing to lack of funds 

 was too lightly constructed to be permanent; but it gave fair 

 results after a careful study of the details of its operation had 

 been made. The lime produced was so far superior to that here- 

 tofore obtained in commercial practice in the Philippine Islands 

 that it has been decided to present this report and to announce 

 that a new kiln of greater capacity and improved design is 

 practically completed, and experimental work will soon be carried 

 on. 



THE BUREAU OF SCIENCE EXPERIMENTAL KILN 



The first experimental kiln at the Bureau of Science is sho\^Ti 

 on Plate I. It was cylindrical in shape and was constructed of 



* Received for publication December 1, 1915. 



129 



