HCl sensor
Hydrogen chloride
Reliable real-time
information on HCl
GasPlug TECHNOLOGY | PATENTED DESIGN
Where is it found?
Hydrogen chloride (HCl) is a colourless to slightly yellow gas with a pungent odour. Upon contact with air, it forms dense, corrosive white vapours. It’s naturally found in the digestive systems of most mammals and as a byproduct of various industrial processes. HCl is primarily used for synthesising inorganic and organic chemicals such as chlorine, ethylene dichloride, and methyl chloride.
It is used in applications such as fumigation, electroplating, mining, chemical synthesis, and the production of synthetic fibres, plastics, dyes, and pesticides.
Why is it harmful?
Hydrogen chloride is irritating and corrosive to any tissue with which it comes into contact. Brief exposure at low levels can irritate the skin, nose, eyes, throat, and larynx, as well as eye and skin burns. Longer exposure causes syndromes of severe respiratory failure and death.
Its odour threshold was set as 0.77 ppm, while the irritating concentration has been reported as 33 ppm.
HCl cartridge
The Hydrogen chloride cartridge has a built-in electrochemical sensor capable of monitoring low concentrations (< 1 ppm) until high concentrations of HCl, with a range from 0 to 20 ppm, and an accuracy of ±0.3 ppm. The HCl cartridge has a high cross-sensitivity with H2S, thus, it is recommended to use an H2S cartridge together with the HCl, allowing the Kunak algorithm to correct this cross-sensitivity.
The HCl cartridge is recommended for leakage detection at industrial processes, and not for continuous HCl monitoring.
Technical specifications
- Measurement range: concentration range measured by the sensor.
- Resolution: smallest unit of measurement that can be indicated by the sensor.
- Operating temperature range: temperature interval at which the sensor is rated to operate safely and provide measurements.
- Operating RH range (Recommended RH range): humidity interval at which the sensor is rated to operate safely and provide measurements.
- Operating life: lifetime of the sensor at normal conditions.
- Guarantee range: limit covered by the guarantee.
- LOD (Limit Of Detection): measured at laboratory conditions at 20ºC and 50% RH. The limit of detection is the minimum concentration that can be detected as significantly different at zero gas concentration, based on the metric from the Technical Specification CEN/TS 17660-1:2022.
- Repeatability (measured at laboratory conditions at 20ºC and 50% RH): closeness of the agreement between the results of successive measurements of the same measure carried out under the same conditions of measurement, based on the metric from the Technical Specification CEN/TS 17660-1:2022.
- Response time: time needed by the sensor to reach 90% of the final stable value.
- Statistical metric: statistics obtained between hourly measurements of the device and the reference instruments for 1 to 8 months field test between -10 to +30 ºC in different countries. (*) The expected error for PM10 is higher in presence of coarse particles.
- DQO-Typical U(exp): Data Quality Objetive expressed as the Expanded Uncertainity in the Limit Value obtained between hourly measurements of the device and the reference instruments for 1 to 8 months field test between -10 to +30ºC in different countries, based on the metric from the European Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC and from the Technical Specification CEN/TS 17660-1:2022. (*) The expected error for PM10 is higher in presence of coarse particles.
- Typical intra-model variability: calculated as the standard deviation of the three sensor means in 1 to 8 months field test between -10 to +30ºC in different countries.
