Memorandum 

20 February 2007 

Page 1 

TO: Airport Deicing Administrative Record 

FROM: Cortney Itle and Robyn Reid, ERG

DATE: February 2008

SUBJECT: Estimated Annual Costs for Airports with Limited ADF Use 

This memorandum provides the methodology for estimating costs for those airports located in 

traditionally warm climates were aircraft deicing is rare. These airports may on occasion be 

required to defrost aircraft only a few cold mornings per year and therefore their ADF usage will 

be orders of magnitude less than airports located in colder climates. Because ADF usage is small 

and infrequent, utilizing capture and control technologies common to airports located in cold 

climates would not be appropriate. For these airports, ERG has developed costs for contractors 

to remove and dispose of spent ADF at an off-airport facility. The following sections provide a 

list of the airports included in this category and the costs associated with collection and disposal 

of small amounts of spent ADF. 

Airports With Small and Infrequent ADF Usage 

To determine which airports have small and infrequent ADF usage, ERG examined information 

contained in EPA’s airport deicing database questionnaire. First, ERG determined which airports 

in the questionnaire database reported zero fluid usage and zero SOFP days. Ten airports 

reported no ADF usage and no SOFP days and therefore none of these airports were assigned 

costs for management of spent ADF. Those airports include the following: 

 Metropolitan Oakland International; 

 San Diego International Airport; 

 Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport; 

 Norman Mineta San Jose International Airport; 

 Santa Maria Hancock Field; 

 Bob Hope International Airport; 

 Tampa International Airport; 

 Sacramento International Airport; 

 John Wayne Orange County Airport; and 

 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport 

ERG then determined which airports reported some ADF use, had less than 100 percent capture 

of the spent ADF, discharges spent ADF to surface waters, but reported no deicing months. For 

these airports, ERG decided each would likely contract collection and off-site disposal of spent 

ADF since they use only small amounts on an infrequent basis. These airports include the 

following: 

 Ontario International Airport in California; 

 Craven County Regional Airport in North Carolina; 

 George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas; 

 Sacramento Mather Airport in California; 
Memorandum 

February 2008 

Page 2 

 Lovell Field in Tennessee; and 

 Lafayette Regional Airport in Louisiana. 

For these airports, only costs for contract collection and off-site disposal of spent ADF have been 

estimated; no other capture and control option costs for spent ADF have been estimated. 

Cost Methodology for Airports with Small and Infrequent ADF Usage

To estimate the annual cost for contract collection and off site disposal of spent ADF at the six 

airports listed above, ERG evaluated both the literature data and contacted a vacuum truck 

contractor located in the Southeast United States. According to the literature, contract hauling 

and disposal of spent ADF is approximately $1.83/gallon1

. Discussions with Harbin Services of 

Athens, Tennessee indicated the daily rental charge for their vacuum truck to enter an airport and 

remove spent ADF solution from concrete areas would be approximately $1,100/day. 

Using the cost information above plus the target ADF capture percentage (60%) and the estimated 

amount of ADF that drains off the plane (80%), the following equation was developed for the six 

airports listed above. 

Annual Cost ($/yr): (ADF Usage (gal/yr) x 0.8 x 0.6 x $1.83) + (SOFP days/yr x $1,100/day) 

Both the ADF usage information and the SOFP days for each airport will be determined from the 

airport questionnaire database. 

Summary

The equation included in this memorandum will be used in the airport deicing costs and loads 

model to estimate the annual costs for a contractor to vacuum and dispose of spent ADF. Those 

airports listed in this memo are the only airports that will be costed for this option. 

 

1

 Department of Defense, Naval Environmental Leadership Program (NELP), Aircraft Deicing and 

Aqueous Film Forming Foam Wastewater Treatment System Cost Analysis, 2000.