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A New Kind of Molotov? Gasoline–Pool Chlorinator Mixtures *
Author(s) -
Hutches Katherine,
Lord James
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2012.02078.x
Subject(s) - gasoline , alkylbenzenes , chemistry , ignition system , sodium , smoke , organic chemistry , waste management , environmental science , pulp and paper industry , engineering , benzene , aerospace engineering
This paper investigates the reaction between pool chlorinators and gasoline. In particular, the propensity for self‐ignition and the resulting chemical products were studied. An organic pool chlorinator was combined with gasoline in varying proportions in an attempt to form a hypergolic mixture. None of the combinations resulted in self‐ignition, but larger quantities of chlorinator produced vigorous light‐colored smoke and a solid mass containing isocyanuric acid and copper chloride. Additionally, the chlorinating abilities of different commercially available pool chlorinators were explored. When Ca(ClO) 2 and sodium dichloro‐s‐triazinetrione‐based chlorinators were used, the presence of gasoline was still visible after 10 days, despite limited chlorination. The trichloro‐s‐triazinetrione‐based chlorinator, however, caused efficient chlorination of the C 2 ‐ and C 3 ‐alkylbenzenes, making gasoline no longer identifiable.