1. Food & Healthcare Ingredients

• Meat Curing Agent: Potassium nitrite is used as a curing salt in the preservation of meats. It inhibits the growth of Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism, and helps maintain the pink color in processed meats like sausages and ham.
• Flavour Stabilizer: Acts as a flavor fixer by preventing the oxidation of lipids, thereby enhancing the shelf life and taste profile of cured meat products.

2. Pharmaceuticals

• Intermediate in Drug Synthesis: Utilized in the preparation of certain active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), especially where nitrosation reactions are required.
• Antimicrobial Agent: Due to its strong oxidizing properties, it is investigated for niche uses in pharmaceutical formulations that require controlled microbial environments.

3. Performance Chemicals

• Analytical Reagent: Potassium nitrite serves as a reagent in laboratories for nitrosation reactions and redox titrations.
• Intermediate in Organic Synthesis: It is used to generate nitroso compounds, diazonium salts, and other specialty chemicals in synthesis pathways.

4. Fabric Solutions

• Diazotization Agent: It plays a critical role in the production of azo dyes by facilitating diazotization of aromatic amines.
• Bleaching and Dye Fixing Agent: Employed in certain textile processes for bleaching synthetic fibers and stabilizing color dyes during printing operations.

5. Metal Treatment 

• Anti-Corrosion Agent: Used in metal treatment formulations to prevent corrosion, especially in alkaline cleaning systems and water-based rust inhibitors.
• Heat Treatment Salts: Acts as an oxidizing component in heat treatment salt baths used for tempering and annealing of steel components.