Potassium carbonates (Potassium Carbonates, Potassium carbonate, Potassium bicarbonate, Potassium hydrogen carbonate, potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, potassium carbonate, potash, E501) — the average salt of potassium and carbonic acid.
Chemical formula K2CO3. White crystalline substance, highly soluble in water.
Types of potassium carbonates:
- (i) Potassium carbonate);
- (ii) Potassium bicarbonate (Potassium bicarbonate, Potassium hydrogen carbonate).
Potash is one of the most ancient salts known to humans. Usually potash is contaminated with various impurities, so it does not have such a pure white color as crushed potassium carbonate. Until the twentieth century, potash was one of the most important industrial chemicals in Europe. It was obtained by water extraction from plant ash, with further purification to the required level. Production was concentrated in areas rich in forest — some in Europe, but mostly in Russia and North America.