Acta Chimica Slovaca (ACS) publishes papers on fundamental and applied aspects of chemistry, biochemistry, chemical technology, chemical engineering and process control, biotechnology and food technology. Welcome are also topics which include chemical aspects of materials, physical chemistry and chemical physics, analytical chemistry, macromolecular chemistry and biomedical engineering.

Preparation of potassium nitrate from potassium chloride and magnesium nitrate in a laboratory scale using industrial raw materials

Jana Jurišová *, Pavel Fellner, Vladimír Danielik, Marek Lencsés a, Milan Králik b, Rastislav Šípoš

Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Technology and Materials, Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology STU in Bratislava, Radlinského 9, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
a VUCHT, a.s., Nobelova 34, 836 03 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
b VUCHT, a.s., Nobelova 34, 836 03 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

E-mail: * jana.jurisova@stuba.sk

Abstract: Preparation of potassium nitrate from magnesium nitrate and potassium chloride was investigated. Prepared potassium nitrate contains less than 0.5 % chlorides and it can be applied as environmentally friendly fertilizer in hydroponic systems. After filtration out potassium nitrate crystals from the reciprocal system K+, Mg2+//Cl–, NO3– – H2O, the mother liquor still contains reasonable amount of potassium cations. By evaporation of the mother liquor, carnallite (MgCl2·KCl·6H2O) with admixture of MgCl2·6H2O crystallizes out. Decomposition of carnallite with cold water makes it possible to separate potassium chloride from this compound. When this KCl is returned back to the process of KNO3 making, utilization of potassium as high as 97 % can be achieved.15

Keywords: potassium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, carnallite

Full paper in Portable Document Format: acs_0138.pdf

Acta Chimica Slovaca, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2013, pp. 15—19, DOI: 10.2478/acs-2013-0003