Chlorine and Safety: Powerful Allies

An omnipresent product

Chlorine makes human life safer. Its most universally recognized application is the treatment of water for human consumption, considered by many to be one of the greatest discoveries of the last millennium, without which human history would have been substantially different. But its importance goes far beyond this extraordinarily relevant or even decisive application. As an infiltrating agent, chlorine is present, but not visible, in thousands of products that are part of our daily lives. Through the integration of essential chemical compounds in the most diverse production processes, its coverage is remarkable, as is the impact of its dozens of derivatives.

The so-called “chlorine tree”, which graphically illustrates the branches (derivatives) and the fruits (products) obtained based on this chemical element, shows its weight in a crucial area of society - safety, in its broadest sense.

Airbags, life jackets, seat belts...

The airbag system, a safety component of a car, uses hydrazine, a chlorine derivative, as one of the gases that allow it to expand in a collision situation; chloroethanol, on the other hand, is the basis for the manufacture of the polyester that makes up the seat belts, an element that is estimated to have saved more than one million lives on the road since it was invented in the 1950s.

Also in cars and other vehicles, there is another fundamental application: that of chloropropanol in brake fluids, a compound that is part of hydraulic braking systems that have long been used on a large scale by manufacturers.

In nautical activities, another chlorine derivative, dichlorobutane, gives rise to adiponitrile, which is an intermediate in the production of nylon. Among many other applications, nylon allows the manufacture of life jackets, whose function and relevance is well recognized, as a last survival stronghold in the event of an accident in the aquatic environment.

Defend those who defend us

Chlorine and its derivatives are also of fundamental importance in the manufacture of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), indispensable in military, security and civil protection activities, as well as in other work functions with high physical risk.

Bulletproof vests and protective gloves, for example, integrate telephthaloyl chloride, a key component in the manufacture of high-performance polymers (such as Kevlar) and aramid fibers, offering great physical resistance, fire and chemical aggressions, among other advantages. The suits used in high-risk activities, such as those performed by firefighters or car drivers, contain isophthaloyl chloride, as do military and police officers, giving them high resistance.

Phosgene also plays an important role in this field, as a base element for the production of polycarbonate, used in the production of protective glasses and bulletproof glass.

Reliable partner

Chlorine has also proven to be a precious ally in serious public health situations, both from a preventive and curative point of view, contributing to saving lives and maintaining social order.

As the active ingredient of sodium hypochlorite, it was, for example, of fundamental importance in the fight against Covid-19 as a disinfectant agent in public and private spaces, as well as in the fight against viral infections with a major impact in terms of public health, such as those caused by the Zika or Dengue viruses. Also noteworthy is its relevance as a powerful brake on the spread of Legionella.

Carl William Scheele, the Swedish chemist who discovered chlorine almost 250 years ago, would certainly not have imagined that he was planting the seed for the advent of something especially important in our daily lives, and which is illustrated by the “chlorine tree”. As in many other fields, this tree also extends its branches for a long time in terms of security - from personal to public protection, from the defense of the common good to the maintenance of physical integrity in more extreme leisure activities.