Alternative Deicers for Winter Road Maintenance—A Review

The use of roadway deicers, typically made of sand or salt, is essential for achieving safe roadway conditions by reducing ice and snow. Unfortunately, deicers can have detrimental effects on the surrounding infrastructure and environment. Traditional inorganic deicers, such as abrasives and chlorid...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water, air, and soil pollution air, and soil pollution, 2020-08, Vol.231 (8), Article 394
Main Authors: Terry, Leigh G., Conaway, Katharine, Rebar, Joyce, Graettinger, Andrew J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abrasives
Acetates
Acetic acid
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Biochemical oxygen demand
Chlorides
Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts
Deicers
Deicing chemicals
Dichloropropane
Earth and Environmental Science
Environment
Environmental monitoring
Environmental perception
Formates
Hydrogeology
Ice prevention
Infrastructure
Infrastructure (Economics)
Maintenance and repair
Metals
Oxygen demand
Oxygen requirement
Receiving waters
Road construction industry
Road maintenance
Roads
Salts
Snow
Soil Science & Conservation
Total oxygen demand
Water Quality/Water Pollution
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Summary:The use of roadway deicers, typically made of sand or salt, is essential for achieving safe roadway conditions by reducing ice and snow. Unfortunately, deicers can have detrimental effects on the surrounding infrastructure and environment. Traditional inorganic deicers, such as abrasives and chloride salts, have the most widespread usage, but recent concerns of the negative effects of chlorides on the environment have led to emerging alternative organic deicers. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the effectiveness and impacts of organic deicers including agro-based products, acetates, formates, glycols, and succinates. The benefits and negative impacts on the road, environment, and infrastructure are reviewed, as well as the performance of each deicer for snow and ice control on roadways. The environmental concerns of the organic deicers are discussed, including the largest environmental concern: the increase in biological oxygen demand (BOD) to receiving water bodies. The impact of deicers on metals and infrastructure is presented as it varies considerably for each alternative deicer. Finally, opportunities and challenges to implementing alternative deicers in the field is discussed.
ISSN:0049-6979
1573-2932
DOI:10.1007/s11270-020-04773-x