Chemicals L - P

Potassium Chloride Food Grade 25kg bag

Potassium Chloride Food Grade is a metal chloride salt, it appears as white crystals with a strong saline taste. Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odourless and has a white or colourless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt-like taste. Potassium chloride can be obtained from ancient dried lake deposits. KCl is used as a fertilizer, in medicine, in scientific applications, and in food processing, where it may be known as E number additive E508. It occurs naturally as the mineral sylvite, and in combination with sodium chloride as sylvinite. Solutions of KCl are common standards, for example for calibration of the electrical conductivity of (ionic) solutions, since KCl solutions are stable, allowing for reproducible measurements. In aqueous solution, it is essentially fully ionized into solvated K+ and Cl– ions. The crystal structure of potassium chloride is like that of NaCl. It adopts a face-centred cubic structure. Its lattice constant is roughly 6.3 Å. Crystals cleave easily in three directions. As with other compounds containing potassium, KCl in powdered form gives a lilac flame. Industrially, potassium chloride is used as a chemical feedstock, it is used for the manufacture of potassium hydroxide and potassium metal. It can be used as a salt substitute for food, but due to its weak, bitter, unsalty flavor, it is often mixed with ordinary table salt (sodium chloride) to improve the taste to form low sodium salt. The addition of 1 ppm of thaumatin considerably reduces this bitterness. For use in the food industry, it has many properties including as a flavour enhancer and gelling agent, it can also be used as a stabilizer or thickener. Potassium Chloride Food Grade has many uses including as a de-icer which is less aggressive to plant life than salts. It is also used in the manufacture of household chemicals.   Please click here to view our delivery information and costs.