Environmentally Benign Deicing/Anti-Icing Technology

摘要

Under a Phase I SBIR program, METSS has demonstrated the technical feasibility ofdeveloping environmentally benign deicing/anti-icing fluids based on glucose, lactates, and their salts. Models developed by METSS to identify potential replacement materials for the current glycol-based systems governed the selection of these materials. These simple models take into account a number of physical, chemical, and structural attributes determined to be important to materials that exhibit good deicing/anti-icing behavior. Known structural attributes for biodegradability governed the selection of materials that would address environmental concerns. The formulations developed by METSS were subjected to tests derived from SAE AMS 1424. BOD and COD tests were performed to assess environmental impact. The results of the Phase I program clearly indicate the technical feasibility of developing direct replacement deicing/anti-icing fluids based on glucose and lactate systems that address environmental impact issues without compromising performance. Near term commercialization of the proposed systems is assured by the abundant supply of these low cost agricultural products, low processing costs, and a number of parties who have a vested interest in expanding markets for these materials. Further development of the proposed technologies should emphasize performance optimization, materials compatibility testing and formulation optimization efforts needed to support foil qualification testing against AMS 1424 and 1428 specifications.