# Carbon dioxide

Sold CO2 comes from ammonia, ethanol and gas plants; it makes urea, carbonates drinks and floods oil fields, and runs short when fertiliser plants stop.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/

Commodity chemicals · Industrial gases · No. 17

- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- about 230 Mt a year used, of which over 20 Mt merchant
- 0.1 t CO₂e per t
- HS 281121
 Commodity chemicals · Industrial gases · Foundation · Matter

In 2021 two fertiliser plants shut on high gas prices, and Britain lost 60% of the CO2 for its drinks and meat.

Chart: Illustration: Carbon dioxide

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Sold CO2 is nearly always a by-product, captured from almost-pure streams at ammonia and hydrogen plants, ethanol fermenters and gas processing, then purified and liquefied.

##### Three things to know

1. About 57% of all CO2 used goes into urea fertiliser, which releases it again once spread on fields.
2. The merchant market is only over 20 Mt a year, tiny beside the 37 Gt of fossil CO2 emitted.
3. India's merchant demand was about 3,565 t a day in 2024, while its urea plants use about 21 Mt a year captively.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Source plant**Ammonia, ethanol or gas processing streams
2. 2 **Capture**Pure streams just compressed and dried
3. 3 **Purification**Carbon and distillation to 99.9% food grade
4. 4 **Liquefaction**Stored at -20 C and 20 bar
5. 5 **Distribution**Tankers to bottlers; pipelines to oil fields
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##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_dioxide/links/index.md)