Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Soda ash

Sodium carbonate, the alkali behind glass, detergents and lithium carbonate, made from Wyoming trona or synthesised from salt and limestone.

Industrial minerals · No. 60

  • Not on a critical list
Industrial minerals · Foundation · Matter

The US holds 23 billion t of natural soda ash, while China makes most of the world's supply from salt and limestone.

Chart: Illustration: Soda ash

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Natural soda ash comes from trona and sodium-carbonate brines, above all in Wyoming's Green River Basin. Synthetic plants make it from salt and limestone: about 52 Mt of 2025's 71 Mt.

Three things to know
  1. About 52 Mt of the world's 71 Mt of soda ash in 2025 was synthetic, made mostly in China.
  2. Wyoming trona is mined underground by room and pillar, recovering about 45% of the ore; solution mining recovers about 30%.
  3. A US natural plant emits about 0.27 t CO2e per tonne directly, while Solvay plants range from about 0.7 to 1.2 t.
The journey
  1. 1 Raw materialTrona or brine; or salt, limestone
  2. 2 Mining or SolvayUnderground or solution mining, or Solvay plant
  3. 3 CalciningTrona heated, then dissolved
  4. 4 CrystallisingDried to dense soda ash
  5. 5 End usesGlass furnaces, chemical plants, detergents
Covered in The chemical industry: what it makes and how it is organisedChemicalsHeavy inorganics: salt, sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorusChemicalsFrom building blocks to plastics, fibres and detergentsChemicalsSoaps, detergents and agrochemicalsChemicals
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