By Greentech
Lead Team: ThermoEnergy anticipates strong demand in 2012 for aircraft de-icing
fluid (ADF) recovery systems, due to expected new requirements by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
Inland
Waters of Ohio, an Inland Industrial Services division, operates a ThermoEnergy
ADF 6000 Recovery System at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. The ThermoEnergy
system recovers and recycles dewatered glycol from spent aircraft de-icing
fluid and storm water.
During icy
weather, the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency safety regulations require airplanes
to be de-iced using aircraft de-icing fluids (ADF) that contain ethylene or
propylene glycol, according to ThermoEnergy Chairman and CEO,
Cary Bullock.
However,
glycol can pollute water bodies, kill aquatic creatures, and contaminate
drinking water. Proposed EPA effluent guidelines are expected to require
airports to remove 99 percent of the glycol in their recovered storm water
before it is discharged, Bullock pointed out.
The
company’s ADF recovery system is being used at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, and
we are in final negotiations with another U.S. airport. Regulations are also sweeping
across Europe and ThermoEnergy recently made the bidding list to provide an ADF
recovery system at one of the largest airports in the world.
In 2012, a
number of other, major U.S. airports will begin aircraft deicing fluid recovery
programs to reduce discharges of glycol into storm water run-off and meet
looming EPA guidelines for compliance. In addition, there may be several
dozen or more U.S. airports that could be forced to comply over the next
several years.
ThermoEnergy’s
ADF Recovery Systems can meet the proposed EPA regulations, and unlike other
treatment methods, recover the glycol in a pure form that can be reused to
formulate aircraft de-icing fluid or be recycled into other products. By
recovering the value of glycol, airports can significantly reduce the costs of
aircraft de-icing operations.