Besides water, what chemical compound is used in greatest amounts by the global economy with little or no preprocessing?

Carbon dioxide, perhaps?

A lot of it is free, of course, used by plants and extracted directly from the air. Economically, this is essential for agriculture, timber, etc. Commercial CO2 is stripped from the air in air separation plants, then used in industrial processes, for the fizz in soft drinks, as dry ice, etc.

Not what I have Coldfuse,although you have an excellent answer.

Hint :The source comes from Doctor P.G Nelson who wrote over 50 scientific publications between 1966 and now.

I want to say ammonia, but that is likely a career bias. Much of our ammonia (NH3) is a byproduct of other processes that have nitrogen and hydrogen as remainders.

Ammonia uses

Another great guess 'Fuse, but still looking for something else.

In his book "important Elements" J.chem,ed.,68, 732-736 (1991),P.G Nelson cites as an exemple that in 1983 alone 7,5 gigatons of "this" were used in the world economy.

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Originally posted by mozart56:
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In his book "important Elements" J.chem,ed.,68, 732-736 (1991),
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It's actually a journal article. How's this for a hint (hoping Mozart doesn't mind): It's something (like water) that you would normally not think of as a chemical.

I meant to say a "publication" I don't know why I said "book". Anyway ,no,I don't mind you giving another hint.

Here are his 54 Publications.

You guys know this is driving me nuts!

I may be overly influenced by having had french fries at lunch, but how about salt (NaCl)?

Nah! Uneatable! ( I like Salt and Vinegar).

I was stopped tonight at a RR crossing for a train carrying natural resources to a nearby fossil fuel power plant. So of course I had to come back and guess "coal."

Do I have to be more specific? I think bituminous coal is used for power plants. I'd like to include all coals to give my answer a fighting chance, though their chemical makeups may differ.

Glad I turned the Science forum reigns over to the imminently more qualified methos!

Well, you do tend to find a lot of this near one of the places you find salt...

Darn! Before stopping to wait for the train I was considering silica...or was I just dreaming of the beach?

DING-DING-DING-DING!!!!!

Silicone Dioxide in the form of sand and gravel is in greatest demand of all compound after water.

Also written SiO2.