Q.Describe, with balanced equations, how potassium permanganate is manufactured industrially starting from pyrolusite ore.

Potassium permanganate is manufactured industrially from pyrolusite ore, $\text{MnO}_2$, in two successive stages.

Stage 1 -- oxidative fusion to manganate. Finely powdered pyrolusite is fused with potassium hydroxide in the presence of an oxidizing agent (atmospheric oxygen industrially, or potassium nitrate in a laboratory-scale variant), oxidizing manganese from the $+4$ state (in $\text{MnO}_2$) to the $+6$ state, as the dark green manganate ion:

Stage 2 -- oxidation to permanganate. The green potassium manganate solution is then oxidized a further step, from $\text{Mn}^{6+}$ to $\text{Mn}^{7+}$. This can be done chemically, by passing chlorine gas through the alkaline manganate solution:

or, in the modern large-scale industrial process, by electrolytic oxidation, in which the manganate ion is oxidized directly at the anode of an electrolytic cell:

$2\text{MnO}_4^{2-} \longrightarrow 2\text{MnO}_4^{-} + 2e^-$ …

Recall the two-stage industrial route (oxidative fusion to manganate, then oxidation to permanganate) with a correctly balanced equation for e …

Confusing manganate ($\text{MnO}_4^{2-}$, Mn +6, green) with permanganate ($\text{MnO}_4^-$, Mn +7, purple) -- these are two distinct species and stage 2 is what converts one …