Can someone explain how is potassium extracted from potassium hydroxide using electrolysis?
Im not sure if it works for the hydroxide (it doesnt work for KCl, unlike NaCl), but perhaps it is melted, and then electrolysis is used. This doesnt work well for sodium hydroxide, since sodium is soluble in sodium hydroxide only a few degrees above its melting point. I think it would be worse for potasstium. If it does work, the temperature would have to be kepts as low as possible, and it would need to be done under an inert atmosphere. The problem is that oxygen forms at the +ve electrode, if this touches the molten potassium, it will explode. Some sodium hyrdoxide cells have a fine iron wire mesh, to stop the molten metal touching the anode and exploding. Hydrogen is also formed at the cathode along with the metal, this could form a nice protective blanket as long as there is some way to remove and vent the oxygen properly from the anode.
