Analysis of the Environmental Load During the Life Cycle of Road Snow-melting and Deicing Technology

Currently, the widely used snow-melting and deicing methods cause damage to road surfaces and the environment. To study the impact of asphalt-pavement snow-melting and deicing technology on the environment during its life cycle, three different snow-melting and deicing technologies were investigated: pavement containing salt, cable-heated pavement, and mechanical ice removal. Based on the life-cycle assessment method, the three snow-melting and deicing technologies were divided into five processes: raw-material mining, mixing, transportation, paving compaction, and snow removal. The impact of environmental emissions over the life cycle of the three snow-melting and deicing technologies was quantified. Four environmental impacts-global-warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP), and human toxicity potential (HTP)-were considered to evaluate the environmental load of snow-melting and deicing technology. The results show that CO2 emissions are the largest in all stages of snow melting and deicing. The environmental loads of the three snow-melting and de-icing technologies are ranked throughout the life cycle: GWP> HTP> AP> POCP. Of the four impact categories, GWP accounts for more than 74% of the environmental load of the different snow-melting and de-icing technologies. To compare the environmental loads of different snow-melting and deicing technologies, their analysis results were normalized. It is concluded that the environmental load generated by the cable-heated pavement is the largest, while that generated by the pavement containing salt is the smallest. © 2024 Chang'an University. All rights reserved.