. Here we present a generalization of the multicomponent Van der Waals equation of state in the grand canonical ensemble. For the one-component case the third and fourth virial coefficients are calculated analytically. It is shown that the adjustment of a single model parameter allows us to reproduce the third and fourth virial coefficients of the gas of hard spheres with small deviations from their exact values. A thorough comparison of the compressibility factor and speed of sound of this model with the one- and two-component Carnahan-Starling equation of state is made. We show that the model with the induced surface tension can reproduce the results of the Carnahan-Starling equation of state up to the packing fractions 0.2-0.22 at which the Van der Waals equation of state is inapplicable. Using this approach we develop an entirely new hadron resonance gas model and apply it to a description of the hadron yield ratios measured at AGS, SPS, RHIC and ALICE energies of nuclear collisions. We confirm that the strangeness enhancement factor has a peak at low AGS energies and that there is a jump of chemical freeze-out temperature between the two highest AGS energies. Also we argue that the chemical equilibrium of strangeness, i.e. γ s ≃ 1 , observed above the center of mass collision energy 8.7 GeV, may be related to a hadronization of quark gluon bags which have a Hagedorn mass spectrum, and, hence, it may be a new signal for the onset of deconfinement.