Potassium_bisulfate

Potassium bisulfate

Potassium bisulfate

Chemical compound

Potassium bisulfate (potassium bisulphate) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula KHSO4 and is the potassium acid salt of sulfuric acid. It is a white, water-soluble solid.

Quick Facts Names, Identifiers ...

Preparation

More than 1 million tons were produced in 1985 as the initial stage in the Mannheim process for producing potassium sulfate. The relevant conversion is the exothermic reaction of potassium chloride and sulfuric acid:[1][2]

KCl + H2SO4 → HCl + KHSO4

Potassium bisulfate is a by-product in the production of nitric acid from potassium nitrate and sulfuric acid:[3]

KNO3 + H2SO4 → KHSO4 + HNO3

Chemical properties

Thermal decomposition of potassium bisulfate forms potassium pyrosulfate:[1]

2 KHSO4 → K2S2O7 + H2O

Above 600 °C potassium pyrosulfate converts to potassium sulfate and sulfur trioxide:[4]

K2S2O7 → K2SO4 + SO3

Uses

Potassium bisulfate is commonly used to prepare potassium bitartrate for winemaking.[5] Potassium bisulfate is also used as a disintegrating agent in analytical chemistry or as a precursor to prepare potassium persulfate, a powerful oxidizing agent.[6]

Occurrence

Mercallite, the mineralogical form of potassium bisulfate, occurs very rarely.[7] Misenite is another more complex form of potassium bisulfate with the formula K8H6(SO4)7.

References

  1. [1]
    Washington Wiley, Harvey (1895). Principles and Practice of Agricultural Analysis: Fertilizers. Easton, PA.: Chemical Publishing Co. p. 218. Retrieved 31 December 2015. Potassium disulfate.
  2. [2]
    H. Schultz; G. Bauer; E. Schachl; F. Hagedorn; P. Schmittinger (2005). "Potassium Compounds". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. doi:10.1002/14356007.a22_039. ISBN 978-3-527-30673-2.
  3. [3]
    Pradyot, Patnaik (2003). Handbook of Inorganic Chemicals. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 636. ISBN 978-0-07-049439-8.
  4. [4]
    Iredelle Dillard Hinds, John (1908). Inorganic Chemistry: With the Elements of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry. New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 547. Retrieved 31 December 2015. Potassium disulfate.
  5. [5]
    Weisblatt, Jayne; Montney, Charles B. (2006). Chemical Compounds. ISBN 978-1-4144-0453-0.
  6. [6]
    Brauer, Georg (1963). Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry Vol. 1, 2nd Ed. New York: Academic Press. p. 392. ISBN 978-0-12-126601-1.
  7. [7]
    "Mercallite: Mineral information, data and localities". mindat.org. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Potassium_bisulfate, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.