Potassium nitrate fertilizer

MgO. Only about 5% of total fertilizer potash is furnished as potassium sulfate and other nonchlotide forms including potassium nitrate. 

Potassium Nitrate. Potassium nitrate, known but Httle used as a fertilizer for many years, may be reclaimed as a by-product of the production of sodium nitrate from natural deposits of caflche in Chile. KNO also has been produced by the double decomposition reaction between sodium nitrate and potassium chloride ... 

Potassium nitrate is being used increasingly on intensive crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, tobacco, leafy vegetables, citms, and peaches. The properties that make it particularly desirable for these crops are low salt index, nitrate nitrogen, favorable N K20 ratio, negligible CU content, and alkaline residual reaction in the soil. The low hygroscopicity of KNO (Table 9) leads to its use in direct appHcation and in mixtures. It is an excellent fertilizer but the high cost of production limits its use to specialty fertilizers. 

Scotts technology (17) uses fluid-bed (Wurster column) technology to apply polymeric coatings to a number of fertilizer substrates including urea, potassium nitrate, potassium sulfate, and monoammonium phosphate (MAP). The coating material is appHed as a water-borne latex onto the fluidized substrate. As the substrate is fluidized with warm air (40—50°C), water is driven off and the latex coalesces into a continuous film around the fertilizer particle. The particular latex compositions used have selected glass-transition and blocking temperatures, which enable quick removal of the water before the soluble fertilizer core dissolves. This obviates the need to use precoats prior to the latex appHcation. 

A number of products are being marketed under the trade name POLYON. These include coated basic fertilizer materials, ie, urea, potassium nitrate, potassium sulfate, potassium chloride, ammonium sulfate, ammonium phosphate, and iron sulfate, in various particle sizes. Coatings weights on urea vary from 1.5 to 15%, depending on the release duration desired. Table 6 Hsts typical products. 

Nitrophosphate fertilizer is made by digesting phosphate rock with nitric acid. This is the nitrophosphate route leading to NPK fertilizers as in the mixed-acid route, potassium and other salts are added during the process. The resulting solution is cooled to precipitate calcium nitrate, which is removed by filtration methods. The filtrate is neutralized with ammonia, and the solution is evaporated to reduce the water content. The process of prilling may follow. The calcium nitrate filter cake can be further treated to produce a calcium nitrate fertilizer, pure calcium nitrate, or ammonium nitrate and calcium carbonate. 

Potassium nitrate is also found in pills for backache and joint pain. It makes a decent plant fertilizer, providing nitrogen and potassium but no phosphorus. As an oxidizer, it is an ingredient in stump removers that hastens the decay of tree stumps. And it is used as a preservative in some salted meats like nitrites, it helps to preserve the color of the meat. 

Fig. 3.9 The positive effect of nitrogen fertilizer (potassium nitrate) on the growth and productivity of transgenic sprouts (A.) The growth rate, measured as the increase in fresh weight during sprouting.

The industrial term potash can be very misleading. It can refer to potassium carbonate (K2CO3), potassium hydroxide (KOH), potassium chloride (KCl), potassium sulfate (K2SO4), potassium nitrate (KNO3), or collectively to all potassium salts and to the oxide K2O. More correctly KOH is called caustic potash and KCl is called muriate of potash. Production is recorded in weight equivalents of K2O since almost all potash is used as fertilizer and this industry quotes weight percentages of K2O in its trade. 

This chapter is concerned with the three primary nutrients making up most fertilizers nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The usual sources of nitrogen are ammonia, ammonium nitrate, urea, and ammonium sulfate. Phosphorus is obtained from phosphoric acid or phosphate rock. Potassium chloride is mined or obtained from brine and the sulfate is mined in small amounts. Potassium nitrate is made synthetically. These chemicals have already been described under inorganic chemicals of the top 50. Sources for the three primary nutrients are given in Fig. 21.1. 

Reactive, alkali metal used to make fertilizers and as potassium nitrate, or saltpeter, explosives. 

Potassium chloride is the most important salt of potassium from the perspective of its abundant occurrence and apphcations. This salt, along with potassium sulfate, is used heavily in fertilizers as the primary source of potassium, an essential element for crops. Over 90% salt manufactured is consumed as fertilizer. Also, potassium chloride is a raw material for producing potassium metal and several important potassium salts including potassium nitrate, potassium hydroxide, and potassium sulfate. Other applications are in electrode cells photography buffer solutions and measurement of salinity in water. 

Although the most prominent use of saltpeter is for the production of black powder, potassium nitrate is also used as fertilizer. In the first half of the 17th century, Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604-1668) obtained saltpeter from animal pens and discovered its use to promote plant growth. Glauber included saltpeter with other nutrients in fertilizer... 

There are as many salts as there are acids and bases. Sodium cyanide, NaCN, is a deadly poison. Saltpeter, which is potassium nitrate, KN03, is useful as a fertilizer and in the formulation of gunpowder. Calcium chloride, CaCl2, is used ro deice roads, and sodium fluoride, NaF in toothpaste, prevents tooth decay. The acid-base reactions forming these salts are shown in Table 10.1. 

CALICHE (Nitrate). The gravel, rock. soil, or alluvium cemented with soluble salts of sodium in the nitrate deposits of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and Peru. The material contains from 14 to 25% sodium nitrate, 2 to 3% potassium nitrate, and up to I i sodium iodaic. plus some sodium chloride, sulfate, and borate. At one time, this was an important natural fertilizer. 

Nitrate, Potassium nitrate, [CAS 7757-79-1], saltpeter, niter, KNO3. white solid, soluble, mp 333°C, formed by fractional crystallization of sodium nitrate and potassium chloride solutions. Used Cl) in matches, explosives, pyrotechnics, (2) in the pickling of meat. (3) in glass, (4) in medicines, (5) as a rocket-fuel oxidizer, and (6) in the heal treatment of steel. See also Fertilizer. 

Some molecules have structures that are not expressed correctly by a single Lewis structure. For example, consider the nitrate ion, N03-, which, as potassium nitrate, is used in fireworks and fertilizers. The three Lewis structures shown in (11) differ only in the position of the double bond. 

The principal mineral sources of potassium are sylvite, KC1, and car-nallite, KCTMgCl2-6H20. Potassium chloride is incorporated directly into fertilizers as a source of essential potassium, but potassium nitrate is used instead for crops such as potatoes and tobacco, which cannot tolerate high chloride ion concentrations. 

Phosphorus containing fertilizers Phosphates are the basic substances in these fertilizers. Phosphorus is also essential for plants. Phosphorus compounds are produced by powdering rock phosphate and adding sulfuric acid to it. The resulting products - phosphoric acid and calcium salts (from the rock) are directly applied to the soil to increase its phosphorus content. Potassium fertilizers examples Potassium chloride, Potassium nitrate etc. A complete fertilizer contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in a fixed ratio. This is called NPK fertilizer. 

In the fertilizer industry, it is used to prepare ammonium sulfate, potassium nitrate and urea. It is used to prepare TNT (trinitrotoluene), nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose in the explosives industry. Nitrogen compounds are also used in the manufacture of dyes and medicines. 

Fertilizers are compounds or mixtures usually used to supply potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus to soil. If a bag of fertilizer consists of almost pure KNO3 (potassium nitrate), what percentages of those three important elements should appear on the label ... 

Potassium nitrate is used in the manufacture of fertilizers, explosives, ceramics, and heat-treating salts. 

Potassium contributes to the formation of sugars, carbohydrates, proteins and to cell division adjusts water balance enhances the flavor, color, and oil content of fruits and is very important for leafy crops. Potassium deficiency produces a spotted, curled, or burned appearance to leaves and lowers crop yields. Potassium fertilizers are applied in the following forms potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate, and wood ash. 

Potassium Nitrate production for tobacco fertilizer and industrial markets. 

Fertilizers for home gardeners may be sold as aqueous solutions. Suppose that you want to begin a company that sells an aqueous solution of potassium nitrate, KN03, fertilizer. You need a solubility curve (a graph of solubility versus temperature) to help you decide what concentration to use for your solution. Describe an experiment that you might perform to develop a solubility curve for potassium nitrate. State which variables are controlled, which are varied, and which must be measured. 

Sodium nitrate is a very deliquescent substance,15 and is therefore unsuited for the manufacture of explosives. It is employed in agriculture as a fertilizer, and by double decomposition with potassium chloride yields potassium nitrate. Large quantities are reduced to... 

Alkali metal nitrates have comparatively low-melting points and the solid nitrates are excellent oxidizers at higher temperatures. Potassium nitrate is used as an oxidizer in black powder (75wt% KNO3, 15% charcoal, 10% sulfur). Fertilizer mixtures commonly contain ammonium nitrate or potassium nitrate, sometimes sodium or calcium nitrate as nitrogen compounds. Ammonium nitrate is also used as an explosive or as an oxidizer in an explosive mixture. Some properties of important nitrate fertilizers are summarized in Table 31. 

Fertilizers have potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus in a form that dissolves easily in water so that plants can absorb them. The potassium in fertilizer is in an ionic compound called potassium carbonate. Two ionic compounds in the fertilizer contain the nitrogen—ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate. The phosphorus supplied is in another ionic compound, calcium dihydrogen phosphate. 

---