In World War 1, the chlorine gas was handled by some soldiers by damping their hankerchiefs into sodium carbonate solution. The article chlorine monoxide suggests that the reaction release chlorine monoxide at 20-30 degree Celcius. I wonder how is the gas released at this temperature since the concentration of sodium carbonate was not given.
From this paper, it says:
Under the optimal conditions of reaction, sodium carbonate, containing approximately 10% of water, is allowed to fall slowly down a reaction tower and contacted with an upward flow of chlorine diluted to about 25% in a gas such as air, nitrogen, or carbon dioxide. The humidity in the reaction zone must be maintained at around 10%, either by saturating the incoming gas with water or by injecting steam into the reactor at regular intervals. The temperature of the reaction zone is preferably maintained at about room temperature (20-30 ᵒC), but may be raised to as high as 200 ᵒC.
So, I figure that under small amount of water, chlorine gas could form HClO via
Cl2+ H2O -> HCl + HClO
My question is:
- What is the mechanism of Cl2O formation?
- How does the concentration of sodium carbonate and temperature would affect the formation of Cl2O compound?
