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Potassium sulfate

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Not to be confused with potassium sulfide.
Potassium sulfate
Arcanite
Arcanite
Potassium sulfate
Names
Other names
Potassium sulphate
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChEBI
ChEMBL
ChemSpider
ECHA InfoCard 100.029.013 Edit this at Wikidata
EC Number
  • 231-915-5
E number E515(i) (acidity regulators, ...)
KEGG
RTECS number
  • TT5950000
UNII
  • InChI=1S/2K.H2O4S/c;;1-5(2,3)4/h;;(H2,1,2,3,4)/q2* 1;/p-2 checkY
    Key: OTYBMLCTZGSZBG-UHFFFAOYSA-L checkY
  • InChI=1/2K.H2O4S/c;;1-5(2,3)4/h;;(H2,1,2,3,4)/q2* 1;/p-2
    Key: OTYBMLCTZGSZBG-NUQVWONBAU
  • [K ].[K ].[O-]S([O-])(=O)=O
Properties
K2SO4
Molar mass 174.259 g/mol
Appearance White solid
Odor odorless
Density 2.66 g/cm3[1]
Melting point 1,069[2] °C (1,956 °F; 1,342 K)
Boiling point 1,689 °C (3,072 °F; 1,962 K)
111 g/L (20 °C)
120 g/L (25 °C)
240 g/L (100 °C)
1.32 (120 g/L)
Solubility slightly soluble in glycerol
insoluble in acetone, alcohol, CS2
−67.0·10−6 cm3/mol
1.495
Structure
orthorhombic
Hazards
Occupational safety and health (OHS/OSH):
Main hazards
 Irritant
GHS labelling:
GHS07: Exclamation mark
Warning
H318
P280, P305 P351 P338, P310
Flash point Non-flammable
Lethal dose or concentration (LD, LC):
6600 mg/kg (oral, rat)[3]
Safety data sheet (SDS) External MSDS
Related compounds
Other anions
 Potassium selenate
Potassium tellurate
Other cations
 Lithium sulfate
Sodium sulfate
Rubidium sulfate
Caesium sulfate
Related compounds
 Potassium hydrogen sulfate
Potassium sulfite
Potassium bisulfite
Potassium persulfate
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
☒N verify (what is checkY☒N ?)

Potassium sulfate (US) or potassium sulphate (UK), also called sulphate of potash (SOP), arcanite, or archaically potash of sulfur, is the inorganic compound with formula K2SO4, a white water-soluble solid. It is commonly used in fertilizers, providing both potassium and sulfur.

History

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Potassium sulfate (K2SO4) has been known since early in the 14th century. It was studied by Glauber, Boyle, and Tachenius. In the 17th century, it was named arcanuni or sal duplicatum, as it was a combination of an acid salt with an alkaline salt. It was also known as vitriolic tartar and Glaser's salt or sal polychrestum Glaseri after the pharmaceutical chemist Christopher Glaser who prepared it and used medicinally.[4][5]

Known as arcanum duplicatum ("double secret") or panacea duplicata in pre-modern medicine, it was prepared from the residue (caput mortuum) left over from the production of aqua fortis (nitric acid, HNO3) from nitre (potassium nitrate, KNO3) and oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid, H2SO4) via Glauber's process:

2 KNO3 H2SO4 → 2 HNO3 K2SO4

The residue was dissolved in hot water, filtered, and evaporated to a cuticle. It was then left to crystallise. It was used as a diuretic and sudorific.[6]

According to Chambers's Cyclopedia, the recipe was purchased for five hundred thalers by Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Schroder, the duke's physician, wrote wonders of its great uses in hypochondriacal cases, continued and intermitting fevers, stone, scurvy, and more.[6]

Natural resources

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The mineral form of potassium sulfate, arcanite, is relatively rare. Natural resources of potassium sulfate are minerals abundant in the Stassfurt salt. These are cocrystallizations of potassium sulfate and sulfates of magnesium, calcium, and sodium.

Relevant minerals are:

The potassium sulfate can be separated from some of these minerals, like kainite, because the corresponding salt is less soluble in water.

Kieserite, MgSO4·H2O, can be combined with a solution of potassium chloride to produce potassium sulfate.

Production

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Approximately 1.5 million tons were produced in 1985, typically by the reaction of potassium chloride with sulfuric acid, analogous to the Mannheim process for producing sodium sulfate.[7] The process involves intermediate formation of potassium bisulfate, an exothermic reaction that occurs at room temperature:

KCl H2SO4 → HCl KHSO4

The second step of the process is endothermic, requiring energy input:

KCl KHSO4 → HCl K2SO4

Structure and properties

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Two crystalline forms are known. Orthorhombic β-K2SO4 is the common form, but it converts to α-K2SO4 above 583 °C.[7] These structures are complex, although the sulfate adopts the typical tetrahedral geometry.[8]

  • Structure of β-K2SO4.
    Structure of β-K2SO4.
  • Coordination sphere of one of two types of K site.
    Coordination sphere of one of two types of K site.
  • SO4 environment in β-K2SO4.
    SO4 environment in β-K2SO4.

It does not form a hydrate, unlike sodium sulfate. The salt crystallizes as double six-sided pyramids, classified as rhombic. They are transparent, very hard and have a bitter, salty taste. The salt is soluble in water, but insoluble in solutions of potassium hydroxide (sp. gr. 1.35), or in absolute ethanol.

Uses

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The dominant use of potassium sulfate is as a fertilizer. K2SO4 does not contain chloride, which can be harmful to some crops. Potassium sulfate is preferred for these crops, which include tobacco and some fruits and vegetables. Crops that are less sensitive may still require potassium sulfate for optimal growth if the soil accumulates chloride from irrigation water.[9]

The crude salt is also used occasionally in the manufacture of glass. Potassium sulfate is also used as a flash reducer in artillery propellant charges. It reduces muzzle flash, flareback and blast overpressure.

It is sometimes used as an alternative blast media similar to soda in soda blasting as it is harder and similarly water-soluble.[10]

Potassium sulfate can also be used in pyrotechnics in combination with potassium nitrate to generate a purple flame.

A 5% solution of potassium sulfate was used in the beginning of the 20th century as a topical mosquito repellent.[citation needed]

Reactions

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Acidification

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Potassium hydrogen sulfate (also known as potassium bisulfate), KHSO4, is readily produced by reacting K2SO4 with sulfuric acid. It forms rhombic pyramids, which melt at 197 °C (387 °F). It dissolves in three parts of water at 0 °C (32 °F). The solution behaves much as if its two congeners, K2SO4 and H2SO4, were present side by side of each other uncombined; an excess of ethanol the precipitates normal sulfate (with little bisulfate) with excess acid remaining.

The behavior of the fused dry salt is similar when heated to several hundred degrees; it acts on silicates, titanates, etc., the same way as sulfuric acid that is heated beyond its natural boiling point does. Hence it is frequently used in analytical chemistry as a disintegrating agent. For information about other salts that contain sulfate, see sulfate.

References

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  1. ^ Patnaik, Pradyot (2002). Handbook of Inorganic Chemicals. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-049439-8.
  2. ^ Windholtz, M; Budavari, S, eds. (1983). The Merck Index. Rahway, New Jersey: Merck & Co.
  3. ^ Chambers, Michael. "Potassium sulfate RN: 7778-80-5". ChemIDplus. United States National Library of Medicine.
  4. ^ De Milt, Clara (1942). "Christopher Glaser". Journal of Chemical Education. 19 (2): 53. Bibcode:1942JChEd..19...53D. doi:10.1021/ed019p53.
  5. ^ van Klooster, H. S. (1959). "Three centuries of Rochelle salt". Journal of Chemical Education. 36 (7): 314. Bibcode:1959JChEd..36..314K. doi:10.1021/ed036p314.
  6. ^ a b Public Domain Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Arcanum duplicatum". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. *125.
  7. ^ a b Schultz, H.; Bauer, G.; Schachl, E.; Hagedorn, F.; Schmittinger, P. (2005). "Potassium Compounds". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. doi:10.1002/14356007.a22_039. ISBN 3527306730.
  8. ^ Gaultier, M.; Pannetier, G. (1968). "Structure cristalline de la forme 'basse température' du sulfate de potassium K2SO4-beta" [Crystal structure of the "low temperature" β-form of potassium sulfate]. Bulletin de la Société Chimique de France (in French). 1: 105–112.
  9. ^ United Nations Industrial Development Organization; International Fertilizer Development Center (1998). Fertilizer manual (3rd ed.). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic. ISBN 978-0-7923-5032-3.
  10. ^ "Super K (Potassium Sulphate)". American Surface Prep. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
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