Hydrogen chloride is a chemical compound and a colorless gas. When it comes into contact with atmospheric humidity, it turns into hydrochloric acid. Both hydrogen chloride gas and hydrochloric acid have wide applications in the industry and technological fields. Most hydrogen chloride manufactured on the industrial scale is used in manufacturing hydrogen chloride through various methods such as direct synthesis, organic synthesis and laboratory methods.
Industrial Use
Concentrated hydrochloric acid contains up to 38 percent liquid hydrogen chloride. It is used in various industrial processes. The amount of hydrogen chloride used depends on the required quality of the product. One important use of hydrogen chloride is removing rust from steel or iron. This is known as "pickling of steel." A typical 18 percent concentrated hydrochloric acid is used for this purpose. During the process of regeneration of hydrogen chloride in steel pickling, a number of byproducts are produced that are also useful for many secondary industries.
Manufacturing of Organic Compounds
The most common use of hydrogen chloride is in the manufacturing of many organic compounds like vinyl chloride, dichloroethane, bisphenol A and a variety of pharmaceutical products. Through the process of acid-base reactions, hydrogen chloride is used in making water treatment chemicals such as ferric chloride and polyaluminium chloride, both of which are used as coagulation agents in the production of drinking water, treatment of sewage and production of paper. In addition to this, hydrogen chloride is used to produce many inorganic compounds like nickel (II) chloride, calcium chloride and zinc chloride. It is also used in manufacturing energy cells.
Neutralizing Agent
Hydrogen chloride is a popular neutralizing agent of solutions and regulates the basicity. This leads to a wide variety of uses like conserving the purity of food, drinking water and pharmaceutical products. In lesser tone, hydrogen chloride is also useful in swimming pool treatment and to neutralize the waste in streams. When hydrogen chloride is of high quality, it is used in the regeneration of ion- exchange resins.
Other Applications of Hydrogen Chloride
Hydrogen chloride is used in a myriad of small scale applications like leather processing, building construction and household cleaning. Food products such as fructose, citric acid, lysine, aspartame and gelatin also need chemical reactions that involve hydrogen chloride. Hydrogen chloride, which is of food grade, is used in food products, where it is needed for the final product.
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