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Alternative Deicers for Winter Road Maintenance—A Review

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to generously thank Dr. Prabhakar Clement and Dr. Armen Amirkhanian for providing comments and a detailed review of the manuscript, and Alysa Evans and Lua Kennedy for help with researching the different organic deicer alternatives. We also would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thorough review of the manuscript and helpful suggestions.

Funding

This work was supported by the Maryland Transportation Authority, MDTA [UA Fund 26,452].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, University of Alabama, Box 870205, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Leigh G. Terry & Katharine Conaway

  2. Maryland Transportation Authority, 300 Authority Drive, Baltimore, MD, 21222, USA

    Joyce Rebar

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, EMS E379B, 3200 N. Cramer St, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, USA

    Andrew J. Graettinger

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  1. Leigh G. Terry
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  2. Katharine Conaway
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Correspondence to Leigh G. Terry.

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Terry, L.G., Conaway, K., Rebar, J. et al. Alternative Deicers for Winter Road Maintenance—A Review. Water Air Soil Pollut 231, 394 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04773-x

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