How can potassium nitrate be used

Potassium nitrate is commonly sold as a water-soluble, crystalline material primarily intended for dissolving and applying with water or in a prilled form for soil application. Traditionally, this compound is known as saltpeter. Agricultural use. In such soils, all of the N is immediately available for plant uptake as nitrate, requiring no additional microbial action and soil transformation. Growers of high-value vegetable and orchard crops sometime prefer to use a nitrate-based source of nutrition in an effort to boost yield and quality.

Potassium nitrate contains a relatively high proportion of K, with an N to K ratio of approximately one to three. Many crops have high K demands and can remove as much or more K than N at harvest.

Potassium nitrate can also be found in many fertilizers used in agriculture. Various industries rely upon potassium nitrate as an ingredient or otherwise helpful substance. Its use as a food preservative dates to the Middle Ages. Fireworks, gunpowder, matches and blasting powders represent incendiary products containing this salt. Rocket fuel may also contain potassium nitrate. The salt proves useful in tempering steel and manufacturing glass. Potassium nitrate also features in dental research, and the chemical industry relies upon potassium nitrate for temperature maintenance around reactors, as well as for making other chemicals.

Stored heat is further used to generate steam for electricity production. This molten salt mixture provides sensible heat storage due to its high thermal stability, low cost and low vapor pressure. She spent nine years working in laboratory and clinical research. A lifelong writer, Dianne is also a content manager and science fiction and fantasy novelist. Dianne features science as well as writing topics on her website, jdiannedotson. Alternative Solvents to Benzene.

How to Make Calcium Carbide. What Is Propylene Glycol. Natural Places to Find Saltpeter. Our health may also suffer as a result of excessive exposure. Concern about the relatively small amounts of nitrites used as food additives began in the 's when researchers noted that domestic animals fed fish meal preserved with nitrites were dying of liver failure. The problem was traced to a group of compounds called nitrosamines, which formed by a chemical reaction between the naturally occurring amines in the fish and sodium nitrite.

Nitrosamines are potent cancer causing agents and their potential presence in human foods became an immediate worry. An examination of a wide variety of foods treated with nitrites revealed that nitrosamines could indeed form under certain conditions. Fried bacon, especially when "done to a crisp," consistently showed the presence of these compounds. So did hot dogs. And to our great horror, beer was also contaminated!

How was this happening? In the case of meat, there was no great mystery. When proteins break down during cooking they can yield amines which in turn react with nitrites to form nitrosamines. The beer issue took a bit of investigating before the problem was traced to the flame drying of malt. When air is heated, its nitrogen and oxygen components can react to form various nitrogen oxides which in turn can react with amines in the malt to produce nitrosamines.

Much to their relief, brewers were able to alter the process and prevent direct contact of malt with flame. No need to worry about nitrosamines in beer now!