Rational selection of deicing materials

Richard L. Hanneman
Salt Institute
Salt and Highway Deicing newsletter
Spring 2007
There are more than a dozen commercial deicers available to snowfighters in North America. NCHRP Report 577 analyzes 15 materials and mixtures, 42 different deicing products in all, using a new tool that allows agency managers to fine-tune their local priorities for each material's cost and for the various environmental and infrastructure impacts. The tool then crunches the data and delivers a comparative analysis according to the locally-determined priorities. The tool enables managers to educate elected policy-makers and the general public and perform "what if" scenarios with differing priority options.