Clean fuel and chemical innovator OCOchem has been awarded an extension of its $1.1 million contract to create a chemical process to manufacture a lower-cost, non-corrosive, chlorine-free deicer to protect U.S. Army and other military equipment from the damage caused by rock or road salt.

Once produced to scale – and if adopted broadly for military and civilian use – the new chemical would replace the use of chloride-based deicing salts and save U.S. state and local governments more than $100 billion in annual corrosion-related road, bridge and equipment maintenance costs and help protect the environment and water supplies.

The U.S. military, as well as state and local governments in cold-weather environments, use chemical deicers to melt dangerous ice on roads, walkways, and runways. U.S. military facilities throughout the world rely on deicers to keep their bases operational and mission ready 24/7.

However, the most common de-icing chemicals used today, due to their historically lower costs, are chloride-based salts. These salts have negative effects on the environment and surrounding infrastructure after they are applied, dissolved, and dispersed, said Todd Brix, Co-founder and Chief Executive of Richland-based OCOchem.

OCOchem has developed a cost-effective process to create non-corrosive potassium formate deicer using inexpensive, and recycled carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, water, potassium sulfate, and clean electricity. Although other potassium formate deicers exist and are commonly used in airports and for home use, they are made from fossil fuels. OCOchem's process greatly reduces the price by using abundant recycled CO2 to make it affordable.

With the U.S. Army grant, OCOchem in August built the first large scale prototype-scale mobile Carbon Flux Electrolyzer that produces potassium formate in a ready-to-use liquid brine formulation for use as a corrosion-free deicer. The formate electrolyzer can fit on the back of a military vehicle, making it directly accessible to bases throughout the world.

The prototype – a wonder of electrical, chemical and mechanical engineering invented, created and demonstrated at OCOchem's Richland headquarters -- is the world's first formate electrolyzer of this size. It is 18 times larger than the initial prototype developed by Brix and his team.

The new deicer – if widely adopted by the military and civilian users – has the potential to save U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion per year through reduced corrosion, maintenance, and replacement costs currently caused by using chloride-based deicers.

"The potential impact of this novel lower-cost carbon-neutral deicing manufacturing process delivers a triple benefit to national defense readiness, civilian customers, and the environment," Brix said. "We are excited to continue our efforts to further scale our formate electrolyzer technology to a commercial-ready system for the U.S. Army so that the new low-cost corrosion-free deicer can be used at U.S. military bases throughout the world and be deployed in the civilian sector to more affordably enhance safe travel and to protect and extend the longevity of our natural and built environment."