U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

New Kind of Molotov? Gasoline-Pool Chlorinator Mixtures

NCJ Number
241240
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 57 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2012 Pages: 1064-1069
Author(s)
Katherine Hutches, Ph.D.; James Lord, M.S.
Date Published
July 2012
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper investigates the reaction between pool chlorinators and gasoline.
Abstract
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 C2- and C3-alkylbenzenes, making gasoline no longer identifiable. Abstract published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.