Sugar-based antifreeze for icefree planes.An antifreeze antifreeze, substance added to a solvent to lower its freezing point. The solution formed is called an antifreeze mixture. Antifreeze is typically added to water in the cooling system of an internal-combustion engine so that it may be cooled below the freezing point derived from simple sugars prevents dangerous ice buildup on an airplane's wings and in its fuel system, researchers say. Unlike the deicing De-icing is the process of removing ice from a surface. Anti-icing is the process of preventing ice from forming on a surface. Deicing can be accomplished by mechanical methods (scraping), through the application of heat, by use of chemicals designed to lower compounds now in use, the antifreeze is nontoxic and would break down into harmless components if it leaked into the environment. The glycerin-based compound works much like salt does on a frigid road: It lowers the melting point of ice, says George W. Mushrush of George Mason University Named after American revolutionary, patriot and founding father George Mason, the university was founded as a branch of the University of Virginia in 1957 and became an independent institution in 1972. in Fairfax, Va., and the Naval Research Laboratory Noun 1. Naval Research Laboratory - the United States Navy's defense laboratory that conducts basic and applied research for the Navy in a variety of scientific and technical disciplines NRL in Washington, D.C. Airline personnel now spray planes with solutions of toxic ethylene glycol, the chemical used in car antifreeze, to prepare them for cold, high-altitude flights. "Large airports use tons and tons of the stuff," says Mushrush. Workers are exposed to the ethylene glycol, and it drips onto runways and soaks into the ground. "What we made is a lot less toxic," Mushrush notes. If ingested, the new compound breaks down into glycerin--a substance often used as a laxative--and acetaldehyde acetaldehyde (ăs'ĭtăl`dəhīd) or ethanal (ĕth`ənăl'), CH3CHO, colorless liquid aldehyde, sometimes simply called aldehyde. It melts at −123°C;, boils at 20. , a product of the normal metabolism of alcohol. |
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