Trouble is bubbling on Australia’s east coast as a CO₂ shortage leaves empty shelves in the soft drink aisle.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the element that gives your fizzy drinks their bubbles, however a supply issue due to planned maintenance projects at a source location means that shoppers – particularly those in NSW will have to wait for their pop.

Issues impacting international imports of bottle CO₂ have compounded the problem, with no specific end in sight for the low supply.

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Major Australian CO₂ supplier BOC said in a statement given to news.com.au that it would be prioritising medical, safety, and water treatment customers until its new Victorian facility is up and running in the later half of 2024. The new plant will produce 60,000 tonnes of beverage-grade CO₂ annually.

It’s a bit boggling that the beverage industry is experiencing a CO₂ shortage, considering that carbon dioxide accounts for 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions begging the question – where does this stuff come from anyway?

For carbonated soft drinks such as Coca-Cola, it is produced as a by-product of an ammonia synthesis process in petrochemical plants (about 80 percent of which will be used by the agriculture industry as fertiliser). Then, the CO₂ is purified in the gas manufacturer’s purification plant, and finally sold to beverage manufacturers.

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