Are you sure that the first solution is actually chlorine dioxide? I recently bought a two-part kit that said sodium dioxide but if you look at the small print, bottle 1 is a 2.9% solution of sodium chlorite and the second is a 5% phosphoric acid plus 4% hydrochloric acid. It said to mix one drop of each but from all that I have learnt, that would be too much acid for the NaClO₂ so I am using a 2:1 to 4:1 ratio of drops.
Any acid can activate NaClO₂ to produce ClO₂. NCl is best because the only other products of the reaction are NaCl (table salt) and H₂O (water)!
Does anyone know how the reaction goes with PO₄H₃ (phosphoric acid)? How many hydrogen atoms can it contribute and what are the byproducts?
Given that it's sold for water purification for human consumption it can't be too problematic but I'd like to get a better understanding of the reactions.
In the meantime, I've ordered up some 22.4% NaClO₂ & 5% HCl although my calculations suggest that for complete reaction it would need to be 4 drops of NaClO₂ to every 7 drops of HCl. At least any shortage of acid will be dealt with in the stomach due to the HCl there so a 1:1 ratio is not problematic.
What Can I do with This
