Agricultural Uses
The most abundant potash mineral deposit is sylvite
(KCl). Sylvite and halite (NaCl) form a common potash
ore, called sylvinite. In nature, fairly pure sylvinite
exists, which contains 10 to 20% potassium but no
soluble sulphate or other salts.
Sylvite and halite crystals of sylvinite contain
significant amounts of gases under high pressure. The
potassium (KCl) and sodium chloride (NaCl) crystals are
separated based on the difference in their specific
gravity. The specific gravity of halite is 2.13 g/cc and of
sylvite 1.9 g/cc. The thermal dissolution of the
crystallization process is also used to separate potassium
chloride from sodium chloride because potassium
chloride is much more soIuble in hot water than in cold
water compared to sodium chloride.
