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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32971 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 13, 2023

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Isn't the worry that the particles will come down which means it isn't a "cube" and concentration is far higher once it rains?

The vinyl chloride burned into hydrogen chloride or polymerised by now. The stuff polymerizes if stored improperly and stops being as nasty.

There was some other nasty stuff nearby, but as it is, the burnt vinyl chloride will just cause a modest amount of acid rain.

The problem is that vinyl chloride polymerization is exothermic. Which means if it starts to happen uncontrolled you'll get some polyvinyl chloride, and a bunch of toxic monomer violently expelled all over everything nearby.

Yeah, but shouldn't the monomer polymerise too ? I mean, it's shipped with stabilizers, and will start polymerising fast if stored improperly. Also, exothermic doesn't mean it's going to blow up , right, just that it gives off heat, no ? Problem would be if the VC stayed in environment, but can it ?

I looked at some discussion over at chemistry reddit, and people weren't that worried about the VC.

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Vinyl-chloride#section=Vapor-Density

Looking here (go down to 'stability'), it looks like it's going to polymerise if exposed to air. But it's not a liquid if it leaks, it turns into vapor, which is highly flammable.

So odds of any 'leak' getting into groundwater where it may largely avoid air are rather small, no ?

The monomer can only polymerize as a liquid. The heat of polymerization will increase the pressure in the (leaking) vessel and force more monomer (as a gas) out, or possibly cause the vessel to explode. This will release the monomer into the air. Some of it will get into groundwater; it's not very soluble but it doesn't take much to be a problem. The gas is heavier than air, so it will stick around for some time. It's not super-persistent; looks like a half-life in air of 1.5 days and it evaporates from surface water fairly quickly. So mostly the problem is acute, but groundwater contamination is possible also. Still better off burning the stuff -- no boom, less chance of groundwater contamination, and despite the smoke, less nasty air pollution.

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