Pollution in Aviation

    Whenever you hear the word pollution and aircraft in the same sentence you might think of burning fuel. However, this is just one of the many different types of pollution found at airports. I believe that there should be four main category's when discussing aircraft pollution. 

An airplane takes off in California. Air travel emissions are a significant portion of all transportation emissions, and could be addressed with planes fueled by hydrogen. Credit: dsleeter_2000/flickr

  • Air pollution (fuel consumption)
  • Noise pollution (sound)
  • Water pollution (liquid contaminants)
  • Solid Pollution (Solid Waste)
    These are the four main categories that come with running an airport. Even though air pollution has the biggest impact on the overall environment due to the hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel burned a day, the category that is hardest to control as an airport manager would be water pollution. Whenever an aircraft forms ice around any part of the structure it will need to be deiced before take off. This de-ice fluid consists of glycol which is very bad for the environment. As the World Health Organization states "Laboratory tests exposing aquatic organisms to stream water receiving runoff from airports have demonstrated toxic effects and death" (WHO 2000).
    In another article from the StarTribune, it points to the fact that Delta alone uses more than one million gallons of de-icing fluid a year (StarTribune 2021). One way that we can help the environment is to park the aircraft on a collection pad to gather the fluid when being sprayed for de-icing. Once you safety contain the glycol you can either recycle it, or dispose of it in a way that protects the environment (StarTribune 2021). By using this strategy to reuse or contain this powerful pollutant we can help prevent damage to our environment. 

Inside Climate News. (Leto Sapunar October 27, 2020) Retrieved October 17, 20201
    https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27102020/hydrogen-fueled-aircraft-clean-energy-emissions/

ETHYLENE GLYCOL Environmental aspects (World Health Organization 2000) Retrieved October 17, 2021
    https://www.who.int/ipcs/publications/cicad/en/cicad22.pdf

What happens to all the deicing fluid sprayed at MSP airport. (Janet Moore Febuary 26 2021). Retrieved October 17, 20201
    https://www.startribune.com/does-all-that-de-icing-fluid-used-at-msp-airport-pollute-nearby-rivers/600013883/



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