Aircraft de-icing – Operation with efficient waste water disposal

In the winter months aeroplanes, runways and landing strips are de-iced with the help of chemicals resulting in the pollution of storm water. Due to the large sealed surfaces at airports, there is an enormous amount of storm water when it rains, which has to be discharged in the fastest possible way to ensure a fluent operation.

De-icing chemicals such as glycol, acetates or formates additional mixed with thickening agents are characterized by high adhesiveness. This adhesion is necessary to absorb and to liquefy the winter precipitation. It is needed for safety reasons since ice and snow influence the weight and aerodynamics of an aircraft in a negative way.

However, the disposal of such water may have an extreme impact on waste water treatment plants or public water. Hence, the continuous monitoring of this surface water is of special importance. In order to protect the environment and monitor the contamination TOC (Total Organic Carbon) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) are used as parameters.

LAR has accepted the challenge to meet the difficult and high requirements of this application. In cooperation with airport operators LAR has developed an online TOC analyser that is optimally suited for monitoring of de-icing water at airports – the QuickTOC_airport. This analyser works with the catalyst-free thermal combustion at 1,200°C and does not need any sample pre-treatment or dilution. 

Moreover, the analyser handles high salt concentrations without clogging and is free of any memory effects. Thus, the measurement system reliably determines the TOC from the lowest to the highest ranges – in less than three minutes.