# Soda ash

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

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/

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 material**Trona or brine; or salt, limestone
2. 2 **Mining or Solvay**Underground or solution mining, or Solvay plant
3. 3 **Calcining**Trona heated, then dissolved
4. 4 **Crystallising**Dried to dense soda ash
5. 5 **End uses**Glass furnaces, chemical plants, detergents
 Covered in [The chemical industry: what it makes and how it is organisedChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/chem-industry-map/)[Heavy inorganics: salt, sulphur, nitrogen and phosphorusChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/heavy-inorganic-chemicals/)[From building blocks to plastics, fibres and detergentsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/building-blocks-to-polymers/)[Soaps, detergents and agrochemicalsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/soaps-detergents-agrochemicals/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/soda_ash/links/index.md)