Green snow
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Posted Date: 01/03/2008
Issue: Airside International March 2008
Publication: Airside International
The importance of snow clearing and de-icing has intensified since September 11, 2001. New security concerns and procedures paved way for companies to seek unique initiatives for clearing snow and de-icing. But other factors such as environmental restrictions, increasing trucking costs and the increasing cost of fuel, are also making it less practical to pursue traditional procedures of trucking snow, hauling it and then dumping it somewhere else.
These pressures led Snow Dragon – a company that designs snow melting units for airports, towns and the commercial sector – to come up with a new product design in 2002.
“We previously had built-in machines which were not portable so I looked for a solution and decided to design a portable de-icing machine, explains Snow Dragon President John Allin. “It’s on a trailer and is pulled by trucks. It gets piles of snow and puts it in hot water which then melts it as it’s pulled along.” The snow melting process is based on fire tube boiler technology. This replaces the industry tradition of heating water in a melting tank by firing a submerged burner which releases hot air and gas bubbles – a slow and inefficient process as most of the heat is lost when the bubbles reach the surface. The collection of snow results in a giant slush machine, rather than a melter, as the water barely gets to 40ºF. However, Snow Dragon has three different types of melters which get hot fast and maintain a melting tank water temperature almost twice that of traditional snow melters, even in the coldest weather. The large one has six burners and melts 120 plus dump loads of snow per hour.
Airports are Snow Dragon’s largest customers for portable snow melters, with its client base mainly in Italy, Poland and North America. The portability of the melters means there is no need for a convoy of trucks coming on and off a protected site, which eliminates security risks associated with hauling snow from airports. But the melters have environmentally friendly properties too. They avoid any chances of contamination because the snow is cleared and melted on site. Therefore piles of snow can be conveniently set up in various melting sites, instead of having to move the snow great distances to one designated snow haul area, to be handled yet again before it is finally taken away. The company’s ethos of ‘Melt it, Don’t Move it’, reduces noise pollution too. The snow melters are an economically viable solution to expensive and environmentally disruptive snow hauling.
“The reason why an airport would want to use a melter is that it is much faster to melt snow than to take it away,” says Allin. “Sixty to 70% of time is saved as a result. This also saves the airport 25% of total expenditure for snow clearance.” He adds that it is not just the fact that snow is melted on site rather than hauled over long distances to another site, which gives it green credentials.
“It is green because the machine has a filter in it to keep the trash in the machine so that it does not get out in the water. When we clear the snow away, we take trash with it.
“The melters cut back the number of pollutants as well. The emissions from the exhaust on the melter is equivalent to two dump trucks, whereas most airports need 17 dump trucks [with old snow removal methods] so there are less pollutants going into the eco-system.”
Patria Vammas Oy, located in South West Finland, also designs, markets, sells and provides services for snow removal at airports. It has been providing airports, including Chicago, Stockholm and St Petersburg, with high speed snow removal equipment for the last 20 years and has developed what it calls the PSB concept, whereby the plough, sweeper and air-blower are all integrated into one unit. This has enabled high speed operations to reach 60km per hour (40mph) and therefore runway closures for full winter cleaning are minimised to 10 to 12 minutes.
Its environmentally friendly designs have received approval from the British Accreditation Bureau and met EC standards. Patria Vammas provides airports with snow removal equipment for the runway and the apron. It uses only the most up-to-date technology and series of engines so it minimises the amount of pollution created. Furthermore, the company uses materials which are recyclable, as well as paints that are environmentally friendly.
Kaj Sjogren, Marketing Director for Patria Vammas Oy, says airports are coming under increasing pressure to be environmentally friendly because of the reports they have to produce on the types of chemicals they use. “We don’t use any chemicals to clear the snow,” he explains. “The environmentally friendly chemicals either are very expensive or not as effective as ordinary chemicals and that’s the big reason that many airports use mechanical cleaning.”
The mechanical system involves the use of a snow plough and a broom or sweeper with steel or plastic brushes. The broom cleans the runway, while a big air blower blows away excess moisture or slush on the runway. “Airports which are concerned about the amount of chemicals needed to maintain the friction on the runways, typically start sweeping the runways and taxiways when there is already water or moisture on them which can turn into ice,” says Sjogren. “The snow clearing starts as soon as the first snow flakes appear. This process is possible even at busy airports because Patria Vammas uses units that are high speed sweepers and the runway closures are short and scheduled.” Schmidt is a world-wide company that has manufactured goods for the de-icing and snow clearing of runways since the 50s. It has sales organisations in 15 countries and more than 70 dealers worldwide.
The airport spreader, the Stratos Lava, was specifically developed for de-icing airport runways, taxiways and aprons. It ensures that airport services remain undisrupted when de-icing with the usual agents in severe icy conditions is no longer possible.
“There is a theory that airports can never be closed and the Stratos Lava makes it possible to keep the runway open,” says Robert Lambrou, Corporate Vice President Marketing, at Schmidt. “With the Stratos Lava we don’t have to use a chemical spray on the runway but can just add very hot water and special sand, and this way, airplanes can still land.
“This kind of mixture sounds simple but nobody else can deal with it in such a way and get the right kind of system and the right construction on the ground.”
Another environmentally friendly device used by Schmidt is the AS 990 Airport Sweeper, which is used for large trucks with cleaning operations on airport roads and runway surfaces. It has a 9.5m cubed capacity hopper, is equipped with a corrosion-resistant suction nozzle and has a sweeping speed of up to 40km per hour. It also has an innovative filter system which enables the sweeper to emit only clean air, thereby protecting the environment.
“Our spreaders use liquid that’s environmentally friendly,” says Lambrou. “Airports do not want corrosion of the runway so we have special liquids we have to work with. However, when it snows, we put the snow on trucks because the airports say the snow is polluted with de-icing liquid that has been sprayed on the planes. We have a cutter blower named Supra which is good for putting large amounts of snow to one side or onto the trucks so that it can be transported away.” He continues: “During extreme weather conditions, such as black ice, the company has no alternative but to use chemical de-icing solution since safety is its top priority at airports.”
Schmidt has developed spreaders and sprayers which can de-ice effectively with an absolute minimum dosage of de-icing solution. Lambrou says: “In order to avoid uncontrolled run-off of the contaminated snow and water into the ground or sewage treatment plants, our sweepers collect it with a special suction system.” Airports are increasingly making tougher demands on snow removal and de-icing companies to clear runways quicker and smarter. So how do they ensure their services are unique, efficient and stay a cut above the rest?
“It is a mixture of developing machines that are faster and better so that they are more accurate and it’s also about improving our service so that we have a good relationship with the customer,” says Lambrou.
But soon enough, simply making the machines faster and more efficient will not suffice. Over the last 100 years, there has been little advancement in snow removal technology, although environmental concerns have recently given rise to the biggest changes in the snow removal business. Airports are under pressure to meet environmental targets set by legislation and, as these companies are aware, increasingly greener designs are the order of the day.
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