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Formulations for aircraft and airfield deicing and anti-icing: aquatic toxicity and biochemical oxygen demand

Lee Ferguson·Steven R. Corsi·Steven W. Geis·Graham Anderson·Kevin Joback·Harris Gold·Dean Mericas·Devon A. Cancilla
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Abstract

The Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) has sponsored research on environmental characteristics of aircraft and pavement deicers and anti-icers focusing primarily on biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and aquatic toxicity of formulated products and individual chemical components of formulations. This report presents a background of issues leading to this research, objectives of this document, and a description of the efforts and findings of this research. Except when the distinction among products is necessary for clarity, “deicer” will refer to aircraft-deicing fluids (ADFs), aircraft anti-icing fluids (AAFs), and pavement-deicing materials (PDMs) generally. The efforts of this project have included the following: A review of regulations and specifications related to the performance and environmental characteristics of deicer formulations A review of issues related to the impact that deicers have on aquatic systems and causes of those impacts Laboratory testing of current-use deicers to establish benchmark values for aquatic toxicity, BOD, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) A review of deicer formulations under development and their relevant performanceand environmental-related characteristics A review of operational and infrastructure considerations A synopsis of current analytical methods used in environmental characterization of airport deicing runoff A toxicity-based investigation of current-use deicers to determine components responsible for toxicity and identify component classes to focus a search for alternative components Identification of gaps in knowledge and data pertaining to the above topics

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Lee Ferguson, Steven R. Corsi, Steven W. Geis, Graham Anderson, Kevin Joback, Harris Gold, Dean Mericas, Devon A. Cancilla. 2008. Formulations for aircraft and airfield deicing and anti-icing: aquatic toxicity and biochemical oxygen demand. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70160335

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