Infrastructure Bank Receives National Recognition for Innovation in Clean Water Infrastructure

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC), and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) were recently awarded a 2017 PISCES Award – and one of only five projects nationally to be given the highest category of recognition –  by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for completion of the RIAC Glycol Recovery System project. The Performance and Innovation in the SRF Creating Environmental Success (PISCES) awards provide recipients with national recognition for exceptional projects funded through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

The Glycol Recovery System, located at T.F. Green Airport, is one of only four de-icer management facilities in the world. Financed using a $33 million loan from Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, this unique approach to capturing contamination from plane de-icing chemicals replaces the previous system which was only able to recover 20% to 30% of the polluting chemicals. The new collection system achieves an impressive 60% collection rate and has been designed to ensure that T.F. Green Airport can continue to grow and drive economic development in the State.

The sophisticated system diverts stormwater runoff to storage tanks where real-time sensors detect de-icer contamination and treat the runoff. The system also captures methane produced by the treatment process and uses it to pre-heat the incoming waste stream and heat the treatment facility, reducing the facility’s operations and maintenance costs by 95%.

The project prevents propylene glycol (known for lowering dissolved oxygen in waterbodies) from entering Warwick Pond and Buckeye Brook, which serve as a spawning ground for many fish, such as alewife and blueback herring, that migrate into Narragansett Bay. The project protects the water quality for these fish species and, by extension, the local fishing industry.