The formation of particles during cooling of a synthetic flue gas with vapors of sodium and potassium species is studied in a laboratory tubular reactor with laminar flow. It is shown to agree well with a theoretical model for the process. The kinetics of homogeneous nucleation of the pure chloride vapors is described by the classical nucleation theory, adapted to include the participation of stable dimer as well as monomer vapor molecules. The Tolman equation is used to describe the curvature-dependence of the surface tension of small nuclei. The values of the Tolman parameter for NaCl and KCl are determined from the measurements. The homogeneous nucleation of the pure chlorides is suppressed by even relatively small concentrations of foreign seed particles and is therefore unlikely to contribute to the creation of new particles in real flue gases. The addition of SO2 to the chloride vapor feed, in the presence of oxygen and water vapor, increases the number concentration of effluent particles significan...