Diatomite: Overview
How fossil algae filter beer, wine and drinking water
What this tab covers What the commodity is used for, why, in what volumes and with what alternatives, and its chain from mine or field to end user. Also the latest price moves, top recent news, three things to know, and buttons into each tab.Key uses
| Use | Share | Annual volume | Why this commodity | Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filtration aids: beer, wine, liquors, water, edible oils, chemicals and pharmaceuticals | 60% | about 430,000 t a year in the USbasis | Diatomite is made of the silica skeletons of diatoms, full of microscopic pores. A thin cake of it on a filter traps yeast, bacteria and fine solids while letting liquid through fast, so it can remove microbial contaminants from public water and clarify beer and wine cheaply. Filtration grades sold for about $580/t in 2025. USGS MCS 2026, Diatomite | Expanded perlite and silica sand Ceramic, polymeric and carbon membranes Cellulose fibre filters |
| Absorbents, fillers, lightweight aggregate and other uses | 40% | about 290,000 t a year in the USbasis | Its porosity lets diatomite soak up oil, chemicals and pet waste, and its low density and abrasive, matting particles make it a filler in paints, plastics and paper. The cheapest grades, worth about $10/t, go into portland cement concrete as lightweight aggregate. USGS MCS 2026 | Clay, ground limestone, ground mica, silica sand, perlite, talc and vermiculite (fillers) Clays, polymers and zeolites (absorbents) |
| Pesticide carrier, animal-feed anticaking agent and natural insecticide | n/a | n/a basis | Diatomite is inert and highly absorbent, so it carries liquid pesticides as a free-flowing powder and keeps feed from caking. USGS notes it remained widely used in both roles in 2025. USGS MCS 2026 | Clays and attapulgite carriers Silica gel and precipitated silica |
| Thermal insulation | n/a | n/a basis | Calcined diatomite bricks and powders resist heat and insulate kilns and furnaces. Danish moler, an impure clay-rich diatomite, has long been used for insulating bricks. USGS MCS 2026 | Special brick and clays Expanded perlite and exfoliated vermiculite Mineral wool |
| Specialty pharmaceutical, biomedical and laboratory uses (including DNA extraction) | n/a | under about 7,000 t a year in the USbasis | Very pure grades bind nucleic acids in lab kits and serve in cosmetics and art supplies, where buyers pay more than $1,000/t for consistent purity. Volumes are tiny but margins are high. USGS MCS 2026 | Synthetic silica Silica-membrane columns in lab kits |
From mine to user
- 1. Deposit Beds of fossil diatom shells laid down in old lakes and seas. US deposits are at or near the surface; elsewhere underground mining is common (USGS).
- 2. Mining Low-cost open pits in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington; six US companies ran 13 mining areas in 2025 (USGS).
- 3. Drying and milling Crude ore holds a lot of water; it is dried, crushed gently to keep the skeletons intact and air-classified.
- 4. Calcining Straight or flux-calcined grades are heated in rotary kilns to change permeability and colour for filtration; calcining converts some silica to crystalline forms, so dust control matters (USGS).
- 5. Grading and bagging Products are graded by permeability and particle size; US filtration grades sold for about $580/t in 2025.
- 6. Export The US held 35% of world export value in 2024 (UN Comtrade); freight limits how far low-value grades travel (USGS).
- 7. End users Breweries, wineries, water utilities, oil and sugar refiners, paint, plastics and agrochemical makers.
Price movement snapshot 2026-10-25
No public daily or monthly benchmark price for this commodity in the datasets used.
World production 2.21 m tonnes, 2024 Largest producer United States 32.7% of worldThree things to know
- Diatomite sells from about $10/t as concrete aggregate to over $1,000/t for DNA extraction and cosmetics (USGS).
- About 60% of US diatomite goes into filtration, including beer, wine and public drinking water (USGS).
- The United States produced about 29% of world diatomite in 2025, more than any other country (USGS).
Top recent news snapshot 2026-10-25, last 30 days
- In 2019, Oregon rebuilt 7.5 miles of Juntura Cutoff Road with recycled pavement and foamed asphalt, savinThe Times of India · 2026-10-06