Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Gypsum

Soft calcium sulphate rock that becomes wallboard and plaster, controls cement setting and conditions farm soils.

Construction · No. 81

  • Not on a critical list
  • HHI 1,113 · unconcentrated
Construction · Foundation · Matter

The wallboard in your office may come from a coal plant's chimney scrubber, not a mine.

Chart: Illustration: Gypsum

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Gypsum formed as ancient seas and lagoons evaporated. It is quarried or mined, then heated to drive off water. World output was about 218 million t in 2024.

Three things to know
  1. Synthetic gypsum from power-plant scrubbers supplied about 39% of US gypsum in 2025.
  2. Portland cement has no practical substitute for gypsum, which controls how fast the cement sets.
  3. Supply is spread across 78 countries with an HHI of 1,113, and China leads with only 28% of output.
The journey
  1. 1 Evaporite bedsAncient seas dried into gypsum layers
  2. 2 MiningQuarried or mined underground
  3. 3 GrindingCrushed and ground to powder
  4. 4 CalciningHeated to drive off water, making stucco
  5. 5 ProductsWallboard, plaster and cement setting control
Covered in Heavy inorganics: salt, sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorusChemicalsPharmaceuticals and fermentation: from molecule to medicineChemicalsBiorefineries and platform chemicalsChemicalsBioplastics: PLA, PHA, bio-PE and starch blendsChemicals
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