United States Department of Transportation
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Alternate Highway Deicing Chemicals - Executive Summary
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1980-03-01
[PDF-874.73 KB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:A search has been made for road deicing chemicals to replace sodium chloride (NaCl). The impetus for this search stems from the numerous drawbacks associated with the prevalent use of NaCl as a road deicer. All types of chemical compounds were reviewed. Selections were made on the basis of criteria such as water solubility and freezing point lowering, corrosion, toxicity, relative cost or cost potential, effect on soils and plants and water supplies, flammability, concrete compatibility, traction, friction, highway performance, etc. Information was sought first in the literature, then supplemented or verified in the laboratory as needed. Two candidate deicers were found to be as effective as sodium chloride. One, methanol, reacts almost immediately upon contact with snow and ice but is less persistent than NaCl. The other candidate, calcium magnesium acetate (CMA), acts at about the same rate as NaCl in the temperature range of common activity and shows about the same persistence. It gives rise to about the same decreases in coefficients of braking traction and skidding friction as NaCl. In strong contrast to NaCl, CMA is a corrosion inhibitor, is beneficial to most soils and has no potential for harming drinking supplies. The unpurified CMA derived from solid wastes, primarily cellulose, gives improved traction and reduces production costs. The methodology for CMA production, cost evaluated above, is unsophisticated 19th Century technology. Application of modern technology may further lower production costs.
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