Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The fire hazard of sodium chlorite - sodium sulphate mixtures has been invenstigated; such mixtures are used in an electrolytic process for the preparation of chlorine dioxide for the bleaching of flour. In the experiments the salts were mixed with combustible (sawdust or flour) and formed into small trains, combustion was then initiated by a glowing cigarette end. It was found that the commercial mixture (chlorite:sulphate::1:2) presents a great fire hazard when mixed with a combustible; the hazard remains appreciable even when the proportion of chlorite in the mixture is reduced by half. Strict safety precautions are recommended for industrial premises using mixtures containing sodium chlorite.