Potash annual total world production

The main environmental problem of the potash industry is the disposal of process waste. The annual total world production of potash ore is approximately 250 x lO tons, the processing of which necessitates that -200x10 tons of waste are deposited without damage to the environment. In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan alone, 300x10 tons of solid waste has been generated during the past thirty years, covering an area of 35 km with solid and liquid materials. 

Between 1869 and the beginning of World War I, most of the world s supply of potassium salts came from the Stassfurt deposits in Germany. During World War I, U.S. production, measured as K2O, rose from 1000 metric tons in 1914 to 41,500 t in 1919. Following the end of World War I, U.S. production declined as imports increased. By the time the United States entered World War II, however, production had expanded enough to meet domestic needs. Since then, production has fluctuated, but has fallen below consumption as of the mid-1990s. Total annual U.S. demand peaked at 6.9 X 10 t in 1979 and has leveled off at approximately 5.1 to 5.5 million t. Canada is the principal potash exporter. 

Important Compounds and Uses Around the turn of the millennium, the total annual output of the world s potash industry including potassium sulfates and potassium products for industrial uses amounted to 30 million tons of K2O. Capital investment in the Soviet Union and Canada and the rapidly increasing use of fertilizers in agriculture in the 1960s and 1970s led to a steep increase in world potash production. Since 1980, the average annual increase in world potash production has been only 0.7%. 

Almost two-thirds of the world potash production output are exported. All the potash-producing countries except Brazil and China are exporters. Canada is by far the largest exporter (in total, 17 million tons of K2O were exported annually). The estimated world demand for potash fertilizers in the 1990-1991 business year was 26 million tons of K2O, with some 95% of the total potash production being used as fertilizers. The total output of products of the potash industry exceeds requirements by about 1.5 million tons of K2O. 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ ]

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