Improving the ice-melting capacity of traditional deicers

Deicers with low freezing point depression and rapid ice-melting capacity are ideal for winter maintenance of pavements located in snow-prone regions. The current study aims 1) to improve the ice-melting capacity of traditional rock-salt deicer at very low temperatures (0 °C, −10 °C, −20 °C, and −30 °C) by employing bio-based non-toxic corn-derived polyols, 2) to evaluate the skid resistance of the pavements when the polyol-modified deicing solutions are applied on the pavement surface, and 3) to determine the viscosity of the polyol-modified deicing solutions. The deicers investigated herein are prepared by adding three corn-derived polyols (sorbitol, mannitol, and maltitol) to the traditional deicing solution (23.3% wt. salt brine deicer) in varying weight concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, and 27.7%). The ice-melting capacity of the deicing solutions is evaluated by conducting ice-melting tests at different low temperatures using an in-house built ice-melting test setup. The viscosity of the deicing solutions, the skid resistance of the pavement surfaces, and dissolved oxygen values are then evaluated corresponding to the deicer combinations that resulted in high ice melting capacity. For temperatures up to −20 °C, the increase in the concentration of corn-derived polyols led to an increase in the ice melting capacity of the deicing solutions. Among the investigated additives, the mannitol and salt brine combination (27.7% wt. mannitol + 23.3% wt. salt brine) resulted in two times more ice melting at −20 °C when compared to the 23.3% wt. salt brine alone. The viscosity of the reference deicing solutions increased by up to 23.3% after the addition of optimal amounts polyols (27.7% wt. sorbitol or maltitol or mannitol) in the deicing solutions. The skid resistance tests revealed that the application of the polyol-based deicing solution on the pavements led to up to 33% reduction in the skid resistance of the Portland cement concrete pavement when compared to the skid resistance of dry pavement surface. Moreover, the polyol-modified deicers exhibited up to 64% higher viscosity and resulted in up to 33% consumption of dissolved oxygen in river water when compared to the salt brine deicer.