What is the Difference Between Calcium Acetate and Calcium Carbonate

The key difference between calcium acetate and calcium carbonate is that calcium carbonate contains a high amount of elemental calcium than calcium acetate.

Calcium acetate is a chemical compound that can be identified as a calcium salt of acetic acid. Calcium carbonate is a carbonate of calcium and has the chemical formula CaCO3. Both are calcium salt compounds that have ionic natures.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Calcium Acetate
3. What is Calcium Carbonate
4. Calcium Acetate vs Calcium Carbonate in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Calcium Acetate vs Calcium Carbonate 

What is Calcium Acetate?

Calcium acetate is a chemical compound that can be identified as a calcium salt of acetic acid. This compound has the chemical formula Ca(C2H3O2)2. Although the standard name of this compound is calcium acetate, its systemic name is calcium ethanoate. It was also called acetate of lime.

The production of calcium acetate can be achieved by soaking calcium carbonate or hydrated lime in vinegar. The sources of calcium carbonate include eggshells, limestone, marble, and other carbonate rocks.

There are different uses of calcium acetate, including lowering the blood phosphate levels, as a food additive, as a stabilizer for food items, production of tofu, as the starting material for acetone production, etc.

The molar mass of calcium acetate is 158.16 g/mol. It appears as a white solid that is hygroscopic. Moreover, this substance is slightly odorous with an acetic acid odor. The density of calcium acetate is about 1.5 g/cm3. At its melting point or higher temperatures, we can observe the decomposition of calcium acetate into calcium carbonate and acetone. Furthermore, calcium acetate is slightly soluble in methanol, and hydrazine while it is insoluble in acetone, ethanol, and benzene.

What is Calcium Carbonate?

Calcium carbonate is a carbonate of calcium that has the chemical formula CaCO3. Calcium carbonate naturally occurs as limestone, chalk, calcite, etc. Therefore, it is a common substance in rocks. Ex: calcite or aragonite (Limestone contains both these forms). Calcium carbonate occurs as white hexagonal crystals or powder, and it is odourless.

Moreover, calcium carbonate has a chalky taste. The molar mass of this compound is 100 g/mol, and the melting point is 1,339 °C (for the calcite form). However, it has no boiling point because this compound decomposes at high temperatures. We can get this compound by mining calcium-bearing minerals. But this form is not pure. We can obtain a pure form using a pure quarried source such as marble. When calcium carbonate reacts with acids, it forms CO2 gas. When it reacts with water, it forms calcium hydroxide. In addition to these, it can undergo thermal decomposition, releasing CO2 gas.

What is the Difference Between Calcium Acetate and Calcium Carbonate?

Calcium acetate is a chemical compound that can be identified as a calcium salt of acetic acid. Calcium carbonate is a carbonate of calcium that has the chemical formula CaCO3. The key difference between calcium acetate and calcium carbonate is that calcium acetate contains a lower amount of elemental calcium, whereas calcium carbonate contains a high amount of elemental calcium.

The below infographic presents the differences between calcium acetate and calcium carbonate in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Calcium Acetate vs Calcium Carbonate

Both calcium acetate and calcium carbonate are ionic compounds. The key difference between calcium acetate and calcium carbonate is their elemental calcium content. Calcium carbonate contains a high amount of elemental calcium than calcium acetate

Reference:

1. Kalantar-Zadeh, Kamyar, and Joel D. Kopple. Nutritional Management Of Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients. 2022.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Calcium acetate” By GKFXtalk (SVG), Edgar181 at English Wikipedia (PNG) – File:Calcium_acetate.png, vectorized by GKFXtalk (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Calcium carbonate” – Picture taken August 2005 by User:Walkerma., Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia