RTOCONFUSED

mmm. OK, more info. The process is from food-grade baking - raw materials are flour, yeast, water, salt, vegetable oils/greases (fatty acids), vinager, and unknown especiation of other stuff as preservatives normal to commercial baking processes. I wonder. This is going deep. I need to understand how this is happening, and am NOT very there in these matters. I cannot find anything out there on this phenom.

OK, understand where you're thinking. Would these be temperature driven? I ask, because on this process, before installation of the RTO for control of VOCs, previous testing showed only de minimus HCl. With installation of the RTO, max temp exposure went from about 240F to 1600F and pop, HCl in the testing impinger.

I made HCl, but don't know how - and that's why I signed up, found this discussion, and need HELP from you chem-xperts. I operate an RTO (regenerative thermal oxidizer) for destruction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a food-grade process. The RTO opeates at 1600F to "burn" the VOCs. A recent emissions test from the RTO found HCl????? There is NO HCl or Cl in the process, with only ONE exception of common salt (NaCl). So, how am I getting HCl. I have seen where molten pure NaCl (melts at 1474F) when exposed to an anode/cathode emits Na and Cl2, and if H2O vapor is present, could form HCl. Its a stretch, but IF particulate salt in my process is depositing on the inside of the RTO and melting, and IF the interior metal walls provide anode/cathode sites (typical in alloy structure and where motor transient currents are present) where Cl2 is released to the airflow that also contains superheated saturated water vapor, and IF the Cl2 find the water vapor molecules in the high temperature environment, can I get HCl? Come on all you inorganic gurus out there, help me out (and I need reference to hard facts). Thanks bunches!