A Review on Potash Recovery from Different Rock and Mineral Sources
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REVIEW
A Review on Potash Recovery from Different Rock and Mineral Sources Sandeep Kumar Jena 1 Received: 28 April 2020 / Accepted: 11 August 2020 # Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. 2020
Abstract This review work reports the recovery of potassium from different rocks and mineral sources. The global demand for potassium is rising consistently due to the growth of agricultural production. A major portion of the world potassium production is consumed in making of fertiliser; however, other uses include those in pharmaceutical, glass, ceramic, food and detergent industries. The availability of soluble potash minerals (sylvite, kainite and carnallite) in different countries like Canada, USA, Israel and Russia makes them as major potash producers, whereas agricultural-based countries like Liberia, Somalia, Central African Republic, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia including India meet their potassium requirement through import only. On the contrary, the availability of huge potassium-bearing rocks/minerals (like nepheline syenite, feldspar, mica, glauconitic sandstone) in these countries containing around 4–17% K2O would be a prospective for commercial production of potassium. The potassium recovery from minerals/rocks is very complicated due to the uniform distribution of potassium throughout the crystal structure. Different physico-chemical separation methods like bioleaching, chemical leaching, flotation and roast leaching have been discussed for the successful recovery of potash values from these rocks/minerals. However, the recovery of potassium from hugely available seawater using the chemical precipitation, solvent extraction, membrane separation and ionic exchange methods is not cost-effective due to the low concentration of potassium. Keywords Potash recovery . Bioleaching . Acid leaching . Flotation . Roast leaching
1 Introduction Potassium is the seventh most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and was discovered in the year 1807. It is a soft and silvery-white-coloured metal and comprised about 2.6% of the total weight of the Earth’s crust. Potassium does not occur naturally in elemental form as it is highly reactive and reacts violently with water and oxygen. It is an essential element for the sustainability and growth of both plants and human beings. After nitrogen and phosphorous, potassium is the third major nutrient for plants and crops. The demand for potassium is, therefore, escalating significantly in the fertiliser industry for adequate food production. Around 90–95% of the total potassium production in the world is consumed for fertiliser
* Sandeep Kumar Jena [email protected] 1
Pilot Plant Mineral Chemistry Laboratory-Mineral Processing Department, CSIR - Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar 751013, India
making, whereas the pharmaceuticals, food, detergent, glass and chemical industries absorb the rest. In fertiliser, about 96% of potassium is used in the form of potassium chloride (muriate of potash) whereas, potassium sulphates, potassium nit
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