Potassium Chloride

The majority of this salt KCl produced is used for making fertilizer, since the growth of many plants is limited by their potassium intake. As a chemical feedstock KCl is used for the manufacture of potassium hydroxide and potassium metal. KCl is also used in medicine, scientific applications, food processing, as a sodium-free substitute for table salt (sodium chloride), and in judicial execution through lethal injection. KCl is sometimes used in water as a completion fluid in oil and gas operations. It is also used as an alternative to sodium chloride in household water softener units. It is useful as a beta radiation source for calibration of radiation monitoring equipment because natural potassium contains 0.0118% of the isotope 40K. It is also used in Dasani water. It was once used as a fire extinguishing agent. It can be used as a salt substitute for food, but due to its weak, bitter, un-salty flavor, it is usually mixed with regular salt (sodium chloride), for this purpose to improve the taste (for example, in Morton Light Salt. It is used in oil drilling fluid, muds and Chemicals.

Potassium chloride (occurs naturally as sylvite, and it can be extracted from sylvinite. It is also extracted from salt water and can be manufactured by crystallization from solution, flotation or electrostatic separation from suitable minerals. It is a by-product of the making of nitric acid from potassium nitrate and hydrochloric acid. It is also commonly known as Muriate of Potash MOP. Potash varies in color from pink or red to white depending on the mining and recovery process used. White potash, sometimes referred to as soluble potash, is usually higher in analysis and is used primarily for making liquid starter fertilizers.

It was once used as a fire extinguishing agent, used in portable and wheeled fire extinguishers. Known as Super-K dry chemical, it was more effective than sodium bicarbonate-based dry chemicals and was compatible with protein foam. This agent fell out of favor with the introduction of potassium bicarbonate (Purple-K) dry chemical in the late 60s, which was much less corrosive and more effective. Rated for B and C fires.

It is also an optical crystal with a wide transmission range from 210 nm to 20 µm. It was formerly often used in the infrared spectrum range, and still is from time to time. While cheap, KCl crystal is hygroscopic. This limits its application to protected environments or short term uses such as prototyping. Exposed to free air KCl optics will “rot”. Today, much tougher crystals like ZnSe have replaced it for IR spectral range applications.

It has also been used to create heat packs which employ exothermic chemical reactions, but these are no longer being created due to cheaper and more efficient methods such as the oxidation of metals (‘Hot Hands’, one time use products) or the crystallization of sodium acetate (multiple use products).

A very bulk use of Potassium chloride is in mines and Oil Drilling mud and chemicals.

Potassium is vital in the human body and oral KCl is the common means to replenish it, although it can also be diluted and given intravenously (of course, in concentrations much lower than those used in executions). It can be used as a salt substitute for food, but due to its weak, bitter, un-salty flavor, it is usually mixed with regular salt (sodium chloride), for this purpose to improve the taste (for example, in Morton Light Salt. Medically it is used in the treatment of hypokalemia and associated conditions, for digitalis poisoning, and as an electrolyte replenisher.

We as Potassium chloride manufacturer offer Technical, Pure, IP, BP USP FCC grades of the product. Among other Potassium salts we can offer Mono Potassium Phosphate, Di Potassium Phosphate, Tri Potassium Phosphate, Potassium Sulphate or Potassium Acetate or Potassium Nitrate. We do not offer Potassium Muriate or Potassium MOP-fertilizer.