Deicing & Glycol Recycling
Your airport or airline winter operations are only as strong as your deicing operations. Passengers who have battled icy roads and traffic to make it to the terminal expect the deicing of their plane to be seamless — essentially invisible — in their travel experience. You want the deicing to be effective in producing safe conditions for winter flights.
We design, construct and commission deicing, glycol supply and glycol effluent facilities and processes that help you avoid the challenges of overwhelmed deicing bays, deicing fluid shortfalls or overflows of glycol effluent.
Airport Deicing Operations
The first step to building a successful airport deicing operation is to establish sufficient fluid supplies. Next is evaluating your process for loading and turn-times on trucks. Our team provides sizing studies, system design and construction for all types of deicing operations, from new centralized facilities to system expansions.
Our experience includes projects for airlines and hub airports across North America. We have designed the full range of deicing project types, from temporary sites to cover the harshest of winters to permanent distribution and blending systems inside vehicle safety zones at centralized deicing pads.
Glycol Recycling Operations
Once aircraft are deiced and en route to warmer climes, your airport is left with a mixture of stormwater and low-concentration glycol. Such effluent is harmful to downstream ecosystems, so federal and state environmental agencies regulate how it is handled. We have experience implementing systems that can treat and recycle glycol, reducing your airport’s environmental impacts.
Low-concentration glycol can be extracted from stormwater, allowing for reuse of deicing fluid. This can potentially offset wastewater discharge fees, mitigate downstream environmental effects and cut back on releases of carbon dioxide by reducing the amount of glycol produced.
Dedicated Deicing Pads
Removing a light frost layer can be handled at the gate by glycol recovery vehicles, but heavier deicing tasks require a dedicated space. Effective siting and planning of a deicing pad support faster out-to-off times for aircraft, improved glycol effluent collection and management, and smoother deicing operations overall.
We work with you to determine what positions on your property will maximize deicing efficiency. We can also assist with ancillary systems that optimize your deicing pads, including a fixed or virtual deicing control tower, an embedded controllable lighting system or clear communication signage.
