Application of a transport and decay model for hydrogen chloride to hydrogen chloride generation in the presence of various fluids and surfaces but without poly(vinyl chloride)

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Abstract
In a total of 63 experiments, all of them carried out in a 200 L Plastic chamber, a large amount of HCI (800–1000 ml) was injected. In no case was the HCI generated from decomposition of poly(vinyl chloride). The chamber contained a variety of surfaces. Furthermore, various fluids were injected into the chamber together with the HCI. The fluids used were: water, ethylene glycol, ethylene glycol/water 50/50 mixture, a model for airborne smoke particulates (and several partial models for such synthetic smoke) and mineral oil. The surfaces used were PMMA, painted gypsum board, ceiling tile and soot. The results showed the efficiency of many of these fluids as sinks for HCI: hydrophilic fluids are good HCI sinks, with water and synthetic smoke being the most effective. A previously developed zone model for HCI transport and decay, contained within the NIST fire model Hazard 1.1 and used most often to investigate HCI formation from PVC combustion or pyrolysis, was used to predict the results of the experiments in this work. The correlation between experimental and predicted atmospheric HCI concentrations was made without fitting any new parameters. The results were excellent. This work shows that the HCI transport and decay model is robust enough to be applied to a number of scenarios where HCI is present, even in the absence of PVC. The model is thus of particular use in fire hazard assessment.