Re: open message to Jim Humble

Adding Hydrochloric Acid to Chlorous Acid

In order to understand this process, we have to start with looking at what happens when sodium chlorite is acidified.

Sodium chlorite has a PH of around 13. The further you drive the PH down by adding acid, the more chlorine dioxide is released. The strength of the sodium chlorite solution dictates the available amount of ClO2 that the solution can generate.

If the PH of the sodium chlorite solution is not driven all the way down to a PH of 1 or 2, only part of the available ClO2 is released upon activation. The rest is held in solution in the form of chlorous acid.

After activation both the free ClO2 and the chlorous acid are diluted. Since there is no evidence of free ClO2 inside the body, it is speculated that it quickly reacts and breaks down. The chlorous acid gradually breaks down and seems to release ClO2 over a period of hours. It appears that the chlorous acid is what is available to be absorbed into the body.

The stomach holds around 1 liter. I mixed up a solution of 6 drops of 28% sodium chlorite activated with 0.5 ml 10% citric acid . I let the activation proceed for 10 minutes, and then added this solution to 1 liter of water. I ended up with about 5 PPM free ClO2 in the solution with a PH of about 6.

I then added hydrochloric acid to bring the PH of the liter of water down to a PH of 2. I then measured the free ClO2 and observed that it was still at 5 PPM. I let the solution sit for 30 minutes and measured again and the free ClO2 remained the same.

It appears that chlorous acid with a PH of 6 does not release additional ClO2 when it is acidified to a PH of 2, at least any change is not observable when measuring free ClO2 using test strips.

Tom