Hydrogen chloride (HCl gas) forms corrosive hydrochloric acid on contact with water found in body tissue.
Also, inhalation of the fumes can cause coughing, choking, inflammation of the nose, throat, and upper respiratory tract, and in severe cases, pulmonary edema, circulatory system **, and ****.
Skin contact can cause severe skin burns.
HCl gas is strongly hydrophilic, hence can be easily scrubbed from the exhaust gases of a reaction by bubbling it through water, producing useful hydrochloric acid as a byproduct.
Any equipment handling hydrogen chloride gas must be checked on a routine basis; particularly for valve stems and regulators.
The gas requires the use of specialised materials on all wetted parts of the flow path, since it will interact with or corrode numerous materials hydrochloric acid alone will not; such as stainless and regular polymers.
