Ice-melting performance and environmental impacts of various de-icer salts

The application of road salt to our roads, parking lots and sidewalks, is causing long-term corrosion to infrastructure and vehicles, and damage to the environment. Various alternative de-icing salts have been proposed but a holistic understanding of their ice-melting performance, corrosion effects and environmental impacts is limited. The goal of the broader project is to compare the environmental and corrosion effects of various salts, including two new proprietary salts, along with their working performance. This sub-project will comprehensively assess the ice-melting and ice-penetration capacity of these salts, which is crucial to ensure that the alternatives still provide safe and passable roads/sidewalk first and foremost, no matter how much they may reduce damage to infrastructure and the environment. The partner organization are a global leader in innovative environmental dust control and road stabilization solutions, and the proposed internships will see the intern work alongside them to design and develop state-of-the-art testing methods for these salts in both the laboratory and field.

Faculty Supervisor:

Christopher Power;Yolanda Hedberg

Student:

Partner:

Cypher Environmental

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Mining; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of Western Ontario

Program: