In the lime production process of vertical preheater—rotary kiln—vertical cooler,the preheater is an important equipment of rotary kiln production line and the preheating effectiveness is particularly important to the output and quality of the production line.Currently, there are two kinds of preheaters in the market,one is stepped preheating chamber preheater,the other is compartment preheater.This paper analyzes the structures,preheating principles and preheating effectiveness of both preheaters.