The Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) winter maintenance program hinges primarily on the use of granular NaCl for deicing. On average VDOT applies over 300,000 tons of NaCl each winter season. The majority of this salt is spread by way of salt-spreaders attached to dump trucks. The spreaders require cleaning and lubricating following each use. The purpose of this research effort was to determine if VDOT should provide an impermeable surface to prevent contamination resulting from lubrication and, if so, determine if washing could occur on this same impermeable surface. It was found that significant volumes of excess lubricants can be generated by way of the spreader lubrication process and should therefore be captured. Due to dilution, if washing and lubrication were to occur at the same location, lubricant concentrations found in the wash water would be relatively low, but could be reduced even further by way of an organoclay filter.
Samenvatting