Applications of potassium

95% of manufactured potassium is used in fertilizers and the rest is used to produce specific compounds of potassium, such as potassium hydroxide (KOH), which can then be turned into potassium carbonate (K2CO3). Potassium carbonate is used in glass manufacturing and potassium hydroxide is found in liquid soaps and detergents. Potassium chloride is used in many pharmaceuticals and other salts of potassium are used in baking, photography, tanning leather, and iodized salt. In these cases, potassium is utilized for its negative anion.

Potassium can be obtained through various known reactions, all of which require heat treatment:

Due to expenses, these processes are not commercially adaptable. Therefore the element is commonly obtained through reduction at elevated heats (i.e., pyrometallurgy). Sodium is often combined with KCl, KOH, or K2CO3 to produce potassium sodium alloys and in the 1950's the Mine Safety Appliances Company developed a reduction process that yields high purity potassium:

The reaction is heated in a special device equipped with a furnace, heat-exchanger tubes, a fractionating column, a KCl feed, a waste removal system, and a vapor condensing system. Because the reaction attains equilibrium quickly, potassium can be removed continuously as a product in order to shift equilibrium to the right and produce even more potassium in its place.

Alloys of potassium include NaK (Sodium) and KLi (Lithium). Both of these alloys produce metals of low vapor pressure and melting points.