 Xenon is obtained commercially as a by @-@ product of the separation of air into oxygen and nitrogen . After this separation , generally performed by <unk> distillation in a double @-@ column plant , the liquid oxygen produced will contain small quantities of krypton and xenon . By additional <unk> distillation steps , the liquid oxygen may be enriched to contain 0 @.@ 1 – 0 @.@ 2 % of a krypton / xenon mixture , which is extracted either via absorption onto <unk> gel or by distillation . Finally , the krypton / xenon mixture may be separated into krypton and xenon via distillation . Worldwide production of xenon in 1998 was estimated at 5 @,@ 000 – 7 @,@ 000 m3 . Because of its low abundance , 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 for xenon , 1 € / L for krypton , and 0 @.@ 20 € / L for neon ; the much more plentiful argon costs less than a cent per <unk> . 
