Potash
Potash (/ˈpɒtæʃ/ POT-ash) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.
[10][11] Later, "potash" became widely applied to naturally occurring minerals that contained potassium salts and the commercial product derived from them.
One of the world's largest deposits, 140 to 150 million tons, is located in the Dallol area of the Afar Region.
It was refined from the ashes of broadleaved trees and produced primarily in the forested areas of Europe, Russia, and North America.
It is estimated that European imports of potash required 6 or more million cubic metres each year from the early 17th century.
[19] From the 1640s, geopolitical disruptions (i.e. Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)) meant that the centres of export moved from the Baltic to Archangelsk, Russia.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, potash production provided settlers in North America badly needed cash and credit as they cleared wooded land for crops.
In 1790, the sale of ashes could generate $3.25 to $6.25 per acre ($800 to $1,500/km2) in rural New York State – nearly the same rate as hiring a laborer to clear the same area.
The wood-ash industry declined in the late 19th century when large-scale production of potash from mineral salts was established in Germany.
[22]: 147 WWI saw a brief resurgence of American asheries, with their product typically consisting of 66% hydroxide, 17% carbonate, 16% sulfate and other impurities.
[11] As numerous potash producers in Canada developed, the Saskatchewan government became increasingly involved in the industry, leading to the creation of Canpotex in the 1970s.
In the beginning of the 20th century, potash deposits were found in the Dallol Depression in the Musely and Crescent localities near the Ethiopean-Eritrean border.
Air bubbles cling to the amine + KCl and float it to the surface while the NaCl and clay sink to the bottom.
The surface is skimmed for the amine + KCl, which is then dried and packaged for use as a K rich fertilizer—KCl dissolves readily in water and is available quickly for plant nutrition.
[22]: 147 As of 2015[update], deposits are being mined in Canada, Russia, China, Belarus, Israel, Germany, Chile, the United States, Jordan, Spain, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Brazil,[28] with the most significant deposits present under the great depths of the Prairie Evaporite Formation in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The most significant reserve of Canada's potash is located in the province of Saskatchewan and is mined by The Mosaic Company, Nutrien and K+S.
[1] In China, most potash deposits are concentrated in the deserts and salt flats of the endorheic basins of its western provinces, particularly Qinghai.
Geological expeditions discovered the reserves in the 1950s[29] but commercial exploitation lagged until Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Policy in the 1980s.
[22]: 152 Excessive respiratory disease due to environmental hazards, such as radon and asbestos, has been a concern for potash miners throughout history.
[35] Potash is important for agriculture because it improves water retention, yield, nutrient value, taste, color, texture[22]: 24 and disease resistance of food crops.
It has wide application to fruit and vegetables, rice, wheat and other grains, sugar, corn, soybeans, palm oil and cotton, all of which benefit from the nutrient's quality-enhancing properties.
The United States Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) attributes the trend to average annual population increases of 75 million people around the world.
Geographically, economic growth in Asia and Latin America greatly contributed to the increased use of potash-based fertilizer.
The worldwide economic downturn is the primary reason for the declining fertilizer use, dropping prices, and mounting inventories.
[40] In addition to its use as a fertilizer, potassium chloride is important in many industrialized economies, where it is used in aluminium recycling, by the chloralkali industry to produce potassium hydroxide, in metal electroplating, oil-well drilling fluid, snow and ice melting, steel heat-treating, in medicine as a treatment for hypokalemia, and water softening.
Potassium carbonate is used to produce animal feed supplements, cement, fire extinguishers, food products, photographic chemicals, and textiles.
Also combined with silica sand to produce potassium silicate, sometimes known as waterglass, for use in paints and arc welding electrodes.
[22]: 143 Manure and glauconite (greensand) are low-potassium-content sources that can be profitably transported only short distances to crop fields.
