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Commercial

Xenon is obtained commercially as a by-product of the separation of air into oxygen and nitrogen. After this separation, generally performed by fractional distillation in a double-column plant, the liquid oxygen produced will contain small quantities of krypton and xenon. By additional fractional distillation, the liquid oxygen may be enriched to contain 0.1–0.2% of a krypton/xenon mixture, which is extracted either by adsorption onto silica gel or by distillation. Finally, the krypton/xenon mixture may be separated into krypton and xenon by further distillation.

Worldwide production of xenon in 1998 was estimated at 5,000–7,000 cubic metres (180,000–250,000 cu ft). At a density of 5.894 grams per litre (0.0002129 lb/cu in) this is equivalent to roughly 30 to 40 tonnes (30 to 39 long tons; 33 to 44 short tons). Because of its scarcity, xenon is much more expensive than the lighter noble gases—approximate prices for the purchase of small quantities in Europe in 1999 were 10 € /L (=~€1.7/g) for xenon, 1 €/L (=~€0.27/g) for krypton, and 0.20 €/L (=~€0.22/g) for neon, while the much more plentiful argon, which makes up over 1% by volume of earth's atmosphere, costs less than a cent per liter.