Potassium alum, potash alum, or potassium aluminium sulfate is a chemical compound: the double sulfate of potassium and aluminium, with chemical formula KAl(SO₄)₂. It is commonly encountered as the hydrate, dodecahydrate, KAl(SO₄)₂·12H₂O. It crystallizes in an octahedral structure in neutral solution and cubic structure in an alkali solution with space group P a −3 and lattice parameter of 12.18 Å. The compound is the most important member of the generic class of compounds called alums, and is often called simply alum. Potassium alum is commonly used in water purification, leather tanning, dyeing, fireproof textiles, and baking powder as E number E522. It also has cosmetic uses as a deodorant, as an aftershave treatment and as a Antihemorrhagic, styptic for minor bleeding from shaving.Alum Block for Shaving – When and How to use one.
, ''Blake'n Blade Shave Shop''. Last accessed 15 January 2020.

History

In antiquity

Potassium alum was also known to the Ancient Egyptians, who obtained it from evaporites in the Western desert and reportedly used it as early as 1500 BCE to reduce the visible cloudiness (turbidity) in the water. Potassium alum was described under the name ''alumen'' or ''salsugoterrae'' by Pliny the Elder, Pliny,Alumen, and the Several Varieties of it; Thirty-eight Remedies.
, Pliny the Elder, ''The Natural History'', book 35, chapter 52; on the Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University. Last accessed 27 December 2011. and it is clearly the same as the ''stupteria'' described by Dioscorides.Dioscorides, book 5, chapter 123. However, the name ''alum'' and other names applied to this substance — like ''misy'', ''sory'', ''chalcanthum'', and ''atramentum sutorium'' — were often applied to other products with vaguely similar properties or uses, such as iron(II) sulfate, iron sulfate or "green vitriol". The production of potassium alum from alunite is archaeologically attested on the island Lesbos. This site was abandoned in the 7th century but dates back at least to the 2nd century CE. Potassium alum is mentioned in some Ayurveda, Ayurvedic texts with the name such as ''sphaṭika kṣāra'', ''phitkari'' or ''saurashtri''. It is used in traditional Chinese medicine with the name ''mingfan'' .

In the middle and modern ages

Potassium alum was imported into England mainly from the Middle East, and, from the late 15th century onwards, the Papal States for hundreds of years. Its use there was as a dye-fixer (mordant) for wool (which was one of England's primary industries, the value of which increased significantly if dyed). These sources were unreliable, however, and there was a push to develop a source in England especially as imports from the Papal States were ceased following the excommunication of Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII. Historically, potassium alum was used extensively in the wool industry from Classical antiquity, during the Middle Ages, and well into 19th century as a dye fixative, mordant or dye fixative in the process of turning wool into dyed bolt (fabric), bolts of cloth. In the 13th and 14th centuries, alum (from alunite) was a major import from Phocaea (Gulf of Smyrna in Byzantium) by Genoans and Venetians (and was a cause of war between Genoa and Venice) and later by Florence. After the fall of Constantinople, alunite (the source of alum) was discovered at Tolfa in the Papal States (1461). The textile dyeing industry in Bruges, and many locations in Italy, and later in England, required alum to stabilize the dyes onto the fabric (make the dyes "fast") and also to brighten the colors. With state financing, attempts were made throughout the 16th century, but without success until early on in the 17th century. An industry was founded in Yorkshire to process the shale, which contained the key ingredient, aluminium sulfate, and made an important contribution to the Industrial Revolution. One of the oldest historic sites for the production of alum from shale and human urine are the Peak alum works in Ravenscar, North Yorkshire, Ravenscar, North Yorkshire. By the 18th century, the landscape of northeast Yorkshire had been devastated by this process, which involved constructing stacks of burning shale and fuelling them with firewood continuously for months. The rest of the production process consisted of quarrying, extraction, steeping of shale ash with seaweed in urine, boiling, evaporating, crystallisation, milling and loading into sacks for export. Quarrying ate into the cliffs of the area, the forests were felled for charcoal and the land polluted by sulfuric acid and ash.

Identification of the formula

In the early 1700s, Georg Ernst Stahl claimed that reacting sulfuric acid with limestone produced a sort of alum.George Ernst Stahl (1703)
''Specimen Beccherianum''
. Johann Ludwig Gleditsch, Leipzig.George Ernst Stahl (1723)
''Ausführliche Betrachtung und zulänglicher Beweiss von den Saltzen, daß diesselbe aus einer zarten Erde, mit Wasser innig verbunden, bestehen''
(Detailed treatment and adequate proof of salts, that they consist of a subtile earth intimately bound with water) Wäysenhaus, Halle (region), Halle. The error was soon corrected by Johann Heinrich Pott, Johann Pott and Andreas Sigismund Marggraf, Andreas Marggraf, who showed that the precipitation (chemistry), precipitate obtained when an alkali is poured into a Solution (chemistry), solution of alum, namely alumina, is quite different from lime (mineral), lime and chalk, and is one of the ingredients in common clay. Marggraf also showed that perfect crystals with properties of alum can be obtained by dissolving alumina in sulfuric acid and adding potash or ammonia to the concentrated solution. In 1767, Torbern Bergman observed the need for potassium or ammonium sulfates to convert aluminium sulfate into alum, while sodium or calcium would not work. At the time, potassium ("potash") was believed to be exclusively found on plants. However, in 1797, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, Martin Klaproth discovered the presence of potassium in the minerals leucite and lepidolite. Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, Louis Vauquelin then conjectured that potassium was likewise an ingredient in many other minerals. Given Marggraf and Bergman's experiments, he suspected that this alkali constituted an essential ingredient of natural alum. In 1797 he published a dissertation demonstrating that alum is a double salt, composed of sulfuric acid, alumina, and potash. In the same journal volume, Jean-Antoine Chaptall]published the analysis of four different kinds of alum, namely, Roman alum, Levant alum, British alum and alum manufactured by himself, confirming Vauquelin's results.

Characteristics

Potassium alum crystallizes in regular octahedra with flattened corners and is very soluble in water. The solution is slightly acidic and is astringent to the taste. Neutralizing a solution of alum with potassium hydroxide will begin to cause the separation of alumina . When heated to nearly a red heat, it gives a porous, friable mass, which is known as "burnt alum". It fuses at in its own water of crystallization.

Natural occurrence

Potassium alum dodecahydrate occurs in nature as a sulfate mineral called alum-(K), typically as encrustations on rocks in areas of weathering and oxidation of sulfide minerals and potassium-bearing minerals. In the past, potassium alum has been obtained from alunite (), mined from sulfur-containing volcanic sediments. Alunite is an associate and likely potassium and aluminium source. It has been reported at Vesuvius, Italy; east of Springsure, Queensland; in Alum Cave, Tennessee; Alum Gulch, Santa Cruz County, Arizona and the Philippines, Philippine island of Cebu. In order to obtain alum from alunite, it is calcined and then exposed to the action of air for a considerable time. During this exposure it is kept continually moistened with water, so that it ultimately falls to a very fine powder. This powder is then lixiviated with hot water, the liquor decanted, and the alum allowed to crystallize. The Hydrate, undecahydrate also occurs as the fibrous mineral kalinite ().

Industrial production

Potassium alum historically was mainly extracted from alunite. Potassium alum is now produced industrially by adding potassium sulfate to a concentrated solution of aluminium sulfate.Otto Helmboldt, L. Keith Hudson, Chanakya Misra, Karl Wefers, Wolfgang Heck, Hans Stark, Max Danner, Norbert Rösch "Aluminium Compounds, Inorganic" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry 2007, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. The aluminium sulfate is usually obtained by treating minerals like alum schist, bauxite and cryolite with sulfuric acid. If much iron should be present in the sulfate then it is preferable to use potassium chloride in place of potassium sulfate.

Uses

Medicine and cosmetics

Potassium Alum Block India Shaving Aftershave

Potassium alum is used in medicine mainly as an astringent (or styptic) and antiseptic. Styptic pencils are rods composed of potassium alum or aluminum sulfate, used topically to reduce bleeding in minor cuts (especially from shaving) and abrasions, epistaxis, nosebleeds, and hemorrhoids, and to relieve pain from stings and bites. Potassium alum blocks are rubbed over the wet skin after shaving. Potassium alum is also used topically to remove pimples and acne, and to cauterize aphthous ulcers in the mouth and canker sores, as it has a significant drying effect to the area and reduces the irritation felt at the site.. It has been used to stop bleeding in cases of hemorrhagic cystitis and is used in some countries as a cure for hyperhidrosis. It is used in dentistry (especially in gingival retraction cords) because of its astringent and hemostatic properties. Potassium and ammonium alum are the active ingredients in some antiperspirants and deodorants, acting by inhibiting the growth of the bacteria responsible for body odor. Alum's antiperspirant and antibacterial properties contribute to its traditional use as an underarm deodorant. It has been used for this purpose in Europe, Mexico, Thailand (where it is called ''sarn-som''), throughout Asia and in the Philippines (where it is called ''tawas''). Today, potassium or ammonium alum is sold commercially for this purpose as a "deodorant crystal". Beginning in 2005 the US Food and Drug Administration no longer recognized it as a wetness reducer, but it is still available and used in several other countries, primarily in Asia. Potassium alum was the major adjuvant used to increase the efficacy of vaccines, and has been used since the 1920s. But it has been almost completely replaced by aluminium hydroxide and aluminium phosphate in commercial vaccines. Alum may be used in depilatory waxes used for the removal of body hair or applied to freshly waxed skin as a soothing agent. In the 1950s, men sporting crewcut or flattop hairstyles sometimes applied alum to their hair, as an alternative to pomade, to keep the hair standing up.

Culinary

Potassium alum may be an acidic ingredient of baking powder to provide a second leavening phase at high temperatures (although sodium aluminum sulfate, sodium alum is more commonly used for that purpose). For example, potassium alum is frequently used in leavening of Youtiao, a traditional Chinese fried bread, throughout China. Alum was used by bakers in England during the 1800s to make bread whiter. This was theorized by some, including John Snow, to cause rickets. The Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875 prevented this and other adulterations. Potassium alum, under the name "alum powder", is found in the spice section of many grocery stores in the United States, US. Its chief culinary use is in pickling recipes, to preserve and add crispness to fruit and vegetables.

Flame retardant

Potassium alum is used as a fire retardant to render cloth, wood, and paper materials less flammable.

Tanning

Potassium alum is used in leather tanning (leather), tanning, in order to remove moisture from the Hide (skin), hide and prevent rotting. Unlike tannic acid, alum doesn't bind to the hide and can be washed out of it.

Dyeing

Alum has been used since antiquity as mordant to form a permanent bond between dye and natural textile fibers like wool. It is also used for this purpose in paper marbling.

Chemical flocculant

Potassium alum has been used since remote antiquity for purification of turbid liquids. It is still widely used in the purification of water for drinking and industrial processes water, treatment of effluents and post-storm treatment of lakes to precipitate contaminants. Between 30 and 40 Parts per million, ppm of alum for household wastewater, often more for industrial wastewater, is added to the water so that the negatively charged colloidal particles clump together into "flocculation, flocs", which then float to the top of the liquid, Settling, settle to the bottom of the liquid, or can be more easily Filtration, filtered from the liquid, prior to further filtration and disinfection of the water. Like other similar salts, it works by neutralizing the electrical double layer surrounding very fine suspended particles, allowing them to join into flocs. The same principle is exploited when using alum to increase the viscosity of a ceramic glaze suspension (chemistry), suspension; this makes the glaze more readily adherent and slows its rate of sedimentation.

Lake pigments

Aluminum hydroxide from potassium alum serves as a base for the majority of lake pigments.

Dissolving iron and steel

Alum solution has the property of dissolving steels while not affecting aluminium or base metals. Alum solution can be used to dissolve steel tool bits that have become lodged in machined castings.

Other

In traditional Japanese art, alum and animal glue were dissolved in water, forming a liquid known as ''dousa'' (:ja:礬水), and used as an undercoat for paper sizing. Alum is an ingredient in some recipes for homemade modeling compounds intended for use by children. These are often called "play clay" or "play dough" for their similarity to "Play-Doh". Potassium alum was formerly used as a hardener for photographic emulsions (films and papers), usually as part of the photographic fixer, fixer. It has now been replaced in that use by other chemicals.

Toxicology and safety

Potassium alum may be a weak Irritation, irritant to the skin.

References

{{sulfur compounds Sulfate minerals Potassium compounds Aluminium compounds Water treatment Coordination complexes Potash E-number additives