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Locally sourced renewable additives for infrastructure-friendly snow/ice control operations

  • CESTiCC Project Number
    1629
    Principal Investigator(s)

    Xianming Shi

    Project Dates
    • Start: September 2016
    • End: August 2017
  • Funding Agency
    CESTiCC and Washington State DOT
    Project Budget
    $75,000

Project Information

Research is needed to further optimize the “green” additives derived from Washington-sourced waste streams (apple pomace, cherry pomace, manure, etc.), with a focus on snow/ice control performance and infrastructure preservation. While our recently completed CESTiCC project demonstrated the feasibility of using “green” additive sourced from waste sugarbeet leaves for anti-icing, the biochemical process of deriving the “green” additive is not optimized for improving anti-icing performance. Futhermore, our preliminary laboratory study revealed that the “green” additive sourced from apple pomace exhibits better corrosion inhibition efficiency than that sourced from waste sugarbeet leaves and the two feature distinctly different chemistry and thus merit further investigation. Finally, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) expressed interest in using such liquid formulations for pre-wetting operations. The objective of this project is to develop innovative anti-icing and pre-wettting formulations for snow and ice control on roadways, using locally-sourced agricultural wastes, fruit by-products and other bio-based additives for freezing-point suppression, performance enhancement, and infrastructure preservation. 

 

For more information, please review the Project Information document.

Project Products

  • Center for Environmentally Sustainable Transportation in Cold Climates (CESTiCC)
  • PO Box 75 5900
  • Fairbanks, AK 99775-5900