Potassium Carbonate

About This Product

Potassium carbonate has the formula K2CO3 and CAS number 584-08-7, supplied as a white, strongly hygroscopic granular powder, very soluble in water and giving a strongly alkaline solution around pH 11. Its distinctive industrial application is acid gas removal. In the hot potassium carbonate process, a hot concentrated solution absorbs carbon dioxide to form potassium bicarbonate, and that bicarbonate is then decomposed back to carbonate by dropping the pressure, releasing the captured gas and regenerating the solvent. Because absorption and regeneration both run hot, the process avoids the large cooling and reheating duty that an amine system requires, which makes it economic at the high pressures found in ammonia and hydrogen plants. Its other uses rest on alkalinity and on the potassium ion. In glass manufacture potassium gives a harder, more brilliant product than sodium, which is why it is used for optical and speciality glass, and in soft soap manufacture the potassium salt of a fatty acid is soft and soluble where the sodium salt is hard. It is used in carbon dioxide and acid gas removal, optical and speciality glass, soft soap manufacture, dyeing and printing, and as a drying agent. Bio Green Chem supplies potassium carbonate to specification on assay, chloride, sulfate, iron, insolubles, moisture and heavy metals.