We Soda Menu Soda Ash Soda Ash is a simple, safe, natural compound which has been used in the manufacture of everyday products for thousands of years 1 2 3 4 What is Soda Ash? What is Soda Ash? How is Soda Ash made? Where is Soda Ash found? How we mine trona A simple, natural product used in products worldwide Soda Ash is the 10th most consumed inorganic compound in the world, which has been used for over 5,000 years. It is a safe, simple compound and a key component in a variety of industrial processes from the manufacture of glass to dry powder detergents and lithium-ion batteries. It is also an important ingredient in the food and pharmaceutical industries. How Soda Ash is used Life's invisible ingredient: Sodium Carbonate, Na2CO3 The ancient Egyptians recovered Soda Ash from dry desert lake beds or produced it by burning marine plants with high sodium content to produce ashes, which gave the commonly used name of 'Soda Ash'. They used it to reduce the melting point of silica sand to produce glass vessels and ornaments - the same basic production technique used in glass manufacturing today. The Romans also used its related compound, Sodium Bicarbonate, for medicinal purposes and to make bread. Successive generations produced Soda Ash in this way until the mid-1800s, when synthetic production techniques were first developed, to supply the increasing demand from an industrialising world. Na2CO3 Soda Ash, or Sodium Carbonate 5,000 Used for over 5,000 years How is Soda Ash made? Today, Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) is produced by two main methods, both of which produce chemically identical Soda Ash. 2021 global production of Soda Ash is estimated to reach 63.4 million tonnes. 1. Natural Soda Ash production Natural Soda Ash is produced by mining naturally occurring Trona ore and then processing this via a simple process of filtering, concentration, crystallisation and drying into Soda Ash which can be sold. Today, this accounts for around 30% of global production. Commercially exploitable Trona deposits only occur geologically in three regions of the world: Enormous deposits in Wyoming, USA, large deposits in Turkey and much smaller and chemically less pure deposits in China. Today, natural Soda Ash is only produced in Wyoming, USA and Turkey. 2. Synthetic Soda Ash production Synthetic Soda Ash is produced using a chemical production process using either the so-called Solvay or Hou method, in which salt (sodium chloride) is reacted with limestone (calcium carbonate) and coking coal in the presence of ammonia to produce synthetic Soda Ash. Synthetic Soda Ash accounts for about 70% of global production, and is a more costly and a far more energy and water intensive production process than natural production methods. WE Soda only produces Soda Ash from naturally occurring trona. Where is Soda Ash (trona) found? Natural Soda Ash has been found in lake brines or naturally occurring mineral deposits. Trona (a mix of water, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate and sometimes sodium chloride or salt) is the most common and richest source of naturally occurring Soda Ash. While Trona occurs naturally in a few locations worldwide, the largest and purest deposits are found near Green River, Wyoming, USA and near Ankara, Turkey. To date, these are the only commercially exploitable deposits that have been discovered globally. We are proud to supply the world with high quality natural Soda Ash, manufactured in an environmentally sustainable way, which has earned us green product certification. Trona Ash global reserves Where is Soda Ash (trona) found? Discover global locations How we mine trona Conventional mining Traditionally, underground trona was mined using conventional underground mechanical mining. This mining technique has been used extensively in Wyoming by all producers of natural Soda Ash since the 1960s, including at our Ciner Wyoming facility. Once the ore has been mined using continuous mining machines at the working mine face, shuttle cars transport the ore to conveyors which then take the ore to a central mine shaft where it is lifted to the surface. Solution mining First developed at Eti Soda, we are the only company in the world to use innovative solution mining technology to extract trona ore. We use this at both our Eti and Kazan facilities. This patented production method injects heated water into the underground ore body, which then dissolves the trona forming brine solution. The brine is then extracted to the surface, and pumped to a central processing facility. This closed loop system is safer (no underground operatives), has minimal impact on the surface, uses significantly less energy and water than other production methods and also produces significantly less CO2 emissions. How we solution mine trona We only produce Soda Ash from naturally occurring underground ore, called trona, which is more environmentally friendly than alternative synthetic production methods, which use significantly more energy and water, and produce significantly more CO2 and solid waste. We operate the three lowest cost production facilities in the world - at Eti Soda and Kazan Soda in Turkey, and at Ciner Wyoming in the USA. We are the only company in the world to use innovative solution mining technology to mine trona at our Eti Soda and Kazan Soda facilities. This patented production method injects heated water into the underground ore body, which then dissolves the trona forming brine solution. The brine is then extracted to the surface, and pumped to a central processing facility. Solution mining diagram How we solution mine trona Learn more How we produce Soda Ash Although we produce Soda Ash in enormous quantities, the process steps to manufacture Soda Ash from brine solution are quite simple. Watch now Filtration Once the brine solution is above ground, it is pumped into our production plant where it is filtered to remove insolubles. Crystallisation The filtered brine is then stripped and evaporated to concentrate the brine, resulting in sodium carbonate crystallising out of the solution. Separation This forms a sodium carbonate slurry, and the crystals are then separated out using a centrifuge. Drying Once separated, the crystals are dried to produce Soda Ash powder. 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