What is the Difference Between Halon and Halotron

The key difference between halon and Halotron is that halon is highly efficient than Halotron in fire extinguishing applications.

Halon and Halotron are types of fire extinguishing agents that are useful in quenching a fire to protect valuable things. They are different from each other depending on the efficiency of the agent on fire quenching.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Halon 
3. What is Halotron
4. Halon vs Halotron in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Halon vs Halotron

What is Halon?

The term halon refers to halomethane compounds that are derived from a combination of methane and one or more halogen atoms that replaces one or more hydrogen atoms. The halogen atoms include fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine. These compounds can be either natural or synthetic. Naturally occurring halons occur in marine environments. The synthetic forms mainly include refrigerants, solvents, propellants, and fumigants.

Similar to methane, halons also have tetrahedral geometry. However, the size and charge of halogens are widely different from hydrogen atoms. Therefore, almost all halons differ from methane’s tetrahedral shape and perfect symmetry. Moreover, the chemical and physical properties of halons differ from each other depending on the number of halogen atoms in the compound and the type of halogen. Generally, halons are volatile but are not as volatile as methane due to the polarizability of halogen. This makes halon useful as a solvent. When considering the reactivity of the compound, iodine-containing halon shows the highest reactivity while fluorine-containing halon shows the lowest reactivity.

Typically, halons are defined as hydrocarbons having their hydrogen atoms replaced with bromine or another halogen, halomethane being the most common halon. Other types of halons include tetrachloromethane, tetrabromomethane, CFCs. HFCs, etc.

In the field of fire extinguishing, halons can decompose to release halogen atoms at high temperatures. These halogen atoms can combine with active hydrogen atoms, which allows the quenching of flame propagation reactions, and this quenching can be done even when there is enough fuel, heat and oxygen.

What is Halotron?

Halotron is a halocarbon-based clean fire extinguishing agent. This agent has a wide variety of commercial, industrial, maritime, and military applications. Halotron is the trade name of this fire extinguishing agent and there are different forms of Halotron such as Halotron I, Halotron II, and Halotron BrX.

The most common Halotron is Halotron I. It is produced from the raw material HCFC-123. This raw material must be mixed with tetrafluoromethane and argon. Tetrafluoromethane and argon act as propellants.

However, there have been global emission concerns regarding Halotron as it results in severe ozone depletion. It also has a global warming potential.

Typically, Halotron is discharged as either rapidly evaporating liquid or gases. This helps in minimizing and eliminating the potential agent-related damage to valuable parts such as electronic equipment, machinery, motors, and construction materials.

What is the Difference Between Halon and Halotron?

Halon and Halotron are types of fire extinguishing agents that are useful in quenching a fire to protect valuable things. They are different from each other, mainly depending on the efficiency of the agent on fire quenching. The key difference between halon and Halotron is that halon is highly efficient than Halotron in fire extinguishing applications.

The following infographic lists the differences between halon and Halotron in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Halon vs Halotron

Halon and Halotron are two types of fire extinguishing agents that are useful in quenching a fire to protect valuable things. They are different from each other, mainly depending on the efficiency of the agent on fire quenching. The key difference between halon and Halotron is that halon is highly efficient than Halotron in fire extinguishing applications.

Reference:

1. “Halotron Clean Fire Extinguishing Agents.” Halotron.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Halon-based fire extinguishing system” By Z22 – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Dichlorotrifluoroethane” By Edgar181 – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia