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Concept
Potash
Summary
Potash (ˈpɒtæʃ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. The name derives from pot ash, plant ashes or wood ash soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing potash before the Industrial Era. The word potassium is derived from potash.
Potash is produced worldwide in amounts exceeding 90 million tonnes (40 million tonnes K2O equivalent) per year, with Canada being the largest producer, mostly for use in fertilizer. Various kinds of fertilizer-potash constitute the single greatest industrial use of the element potassium in the world. Potassium was first derived in 1807 by electrolysis of caustic potash (potassium hydroxide).
Potash refers to potassium compounds and potassium-bearing materials, most commonly potassium carbonate. The word "potash" originates from the Middle Dutch "potaschen", denoting "pot ashes" in 1477.
The old method of making potassium carbonate (K2CO3) was by collecting or producing wood ash (the occupation of ash burners), leaching the ashes, and then evaporating the resulting solution in large iron pots, which left a white residue denominated "pot ash". Approximately 10% by weight of common wood ash can be recovered as potash. Later, "potash" became widely applied to naturally occurring potassium salts and the commercial product derived from them, although it most probably derived its name (where it was used) from the anion of the acid that replaced the carbonate moiety, a common equivocative use of "potash" for "potassium".
The following table lists a number of potassium compounds that have "potash" in their traditional names:
All commercial potash deposits come originally from evaporite deposits and are often buried deep below the earth's surface. Potash ores are typically rich in potassium chloride (KCl), sodium chloride (NaCl) and other salts and clays, and are typically obtained by conventional shaft mining with the extracted ore ground into a powder. Other methods include dissolution mining and evaporation methods from brines.
Official source
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