perfect chalk

@ phi for all, thank you for reply, that is actually one of the tests we will be running later today. I will update you on the results when we do so @sensei, thats a great idea that we would have not even thought of, and will get to working on today. As for the electricity component, we have a group working with great lakes energy (a Rwandan solar panel manufacturer) to hopefully provide feasible and cost effective solutions to the aforementioned problem. While it may not provide a perfect long term solution it will at least be a band-aid solution until the proper infrastructure can be installed.

Please keep in mind that I am an MBA student whose chemistry knowledge in chemistry in seriously lacking Background: As apart of my graduate program we travel to a developing country (Rwanda in my case) and help local social enterprises to develop their business. The company that my group is working with is called Perfect Chalk and they create chalk for local public schools. Since 83% of the populations without a stable electrical grid, chalk is the main teaching tool in this country. Problem: This company uses 3.5 L water and 3.5 kg calcium carbonate (limestone) to create a batch of 600 single pieces of chalk. However these pieces are often porous causing it to break easily and to produce potentially health hazardous dust particles. Its imported competitors have created a dustless chalk that is of a much higher quality, using essentially the same materials plus an additional catalyst that is used to speed up the chemical reaction thereby creating a paste that contains much finer and tightly packed particles, according to the company current chemist (keep in mind that he has the equivalency of a high school education, and therefore might have the necessary knowledge). My question is what could that catalyst possibly be Thank you for your help