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The design of the infrastructure of a controlled longitudinal performance, environmental and economic comparative study of calcium magnesium acetate versus sodium chloride deicers / by Jaafar Al-Mahdi.

by Al-Mahdi, Jaafar

Calcium magnesium acetate

Environmental impact analysis

Deicing chemicals

Roads -- Snow and ice control

143 leaves : figures, tables ; 29 cm.

Advisor: Dr. Carol Diggelman

Committee Members: Dr. Francis Mahuta, Ken Kaszubowski

Introduction -- Literature review -- Feasibility study -- Longitudinal study -- Conclusions and recommendations -- Glossary -- References -- Appendix A) Calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) patent -- B) Material safety data sheets -- C) Impedance spectrosopy for the evalulation of corrosion inhibitors in highway deicers. -- D) Salt tolerant trees -- E) National secondary drinking water regulations. -- F) Historical and projected hloride concentrations in Wisconsin's drinking water -- G) How much deicer is required to melt 8 inches of snow on a four lane highway. -- H) Cost manual

The objective of this project is to design the infrastructure for an information collection system that will make it possible to evaluate and compare the performance, environmental impacts, and costs of two alternative deicers. In order to construct the comparative study, research on deicers was conducted from books and periodical articles obtained from the M.S.O.E library, Milwaukee Public Library, and the World Wide Web. Interviews with companies and environmental agencies were also conducted to obtain current technological and regulatory information that pertain to the field of deicing. Sodium chloride, or common road salt, is by far the most popular chemical deicer in the United States (10 million tons were applied nationwide in 1999), because it is reliable, inexpensive (approximately $30 per ton), and easy to handle and apply.

However salt is known to have damaging effects, such as increasing the rate of corrosion of vehicles and constructions metals, it has also been linked to the increase in chloride concentrations in both surface and groundwater, and its adverse effects on roadside soil and vegetation. Recognizing these drawbacks and knowing that deicing is essential to maintain safe winter driving conditions (application of roadsalt reduces road injury accidents by 88%), calcium magnesium acetate (CMA, $400 per ton), has been proposed as an alternative to roadsalt. Some governmental units (e.g. Wisconsin Department of Transportation) have been using CMA for deicing purposes, however, only small-scale projects were found in the state of Wisconsin. Therefore, a controlled comparative study is proposed to address these issues and quantify and compare the direct and indirect costs of both CMA and salt deicers. The proposed information collection system will include but not be limited to cost data on highway construction, equipment, labor, maintenance, highway resurfacing and deicing material costs.

The study will also include environmental monitoring data on chloride and BOD concentration levels. Performance, measured as accident rates as a direct consequnce of deicer applications, will also be monitored. The collected data will ultimately give three parameters - performance, cost and environmental impacts - to use in weighing alternative deicers.

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