Work starts on glycol-recycling facility at Syracuse airport

SYRACUSE — A Canadian firm and its partners are handling the work on an upcoming glycol-recycling facility at Syracuse Hancock International Airport. 

The Syracuse Regional Airport Authority (SRAA) and Aéro Mag on March 13 announced project details in a news conference at the airport.

Glycol is the main component in aircraft deicing fluid and “critical to safe operations” at airports in colder climates, per the SRAA’s announcement.

Aéro Mag, based in Montreal, Quebec, specializes in aircraft de-icing, de-icing-center management, and recycling of used de-icing products. The company has more than 1,700 employees in 17 airports around the world.

The Canadian firm bid more than $19 million to handle work on the project, Jason Terreri, executive director of the SRAA, said. 

Construction crews broke ground earlier this month (March) on the facility, which is capable of producing an estimated 500,000 gallons of type I glycol annually. 

Aéro Mag is working with two companies on the project, Joerg Sutter, who handles operation support and business development for Aero Mag, tells CNYBJ in an email message. It is collaborating with Kansas City, Missouri–based Burns & McDonnell on the project design and with Stockholm, Sweden–based Vilokan to secure the recycling equipment. 

Crews are building the glycol-recycling operation near two large glycol-recovery tanks at the Syracuse airport, where the fluid is stored and treated and discharged into the wastewater system, Terreri told reporters covering the event.

Once fully operational in the fall, the facility — also referred to as an “RRR – Recover, Recycle, Reuse Facility” — will take used aircraft deicing fluid collected from the airport’s multiple deicing pads and refine it to produce pure glycol. 

This glycol will then be blended and certified as type I deicing fluid again. The byproducts of this refinement are glycol and clean water, yielding between 5 million and 7 million gallons of reusable water per year as well.

Terreri said the project is helping the Syracuse airport reach a few of its goals.

“First off, being sustainable. It has incredible environmental benefits for the airport,” Terreri said. “[Currently], after we use glycol on the aircraft, it is collected, treated, and then released into the [Onondaga County] wastewater system. Approximately 4 million gallons a year are discharged to the wastewater facility.” 

With the new program, “there will no longer be any discharge into our wastewater plant,” he added. 

The glycol will be 100 percent recycled, captured, and then the airlines will have the opportunity to reuse that at the Syracuse airport.

“And that leads to … our other goal, which is creating a cost-competitive environment for the airlines. So, with this program, by not discharging fluid to the county, it’s reducing our cost to the airlines by roughly [$400,000] to $800,000 a year,” Terreri noted. “That comes right off the airline rate base, helping us lower and maintain affordable air fares here in Syracuse.” 

Talks are underway with other airports in upstate New York to transport their used glycol for recycling at the Syracuse airport, the SRAA said. It’ll allow other airports the chance to dispose of used deicing fluid “at little to no cost, while benefiting the environment.” 

Once refined at Hancock, the glycol will then be resold to airlines operating in Syracuse at about 10 to 15 percent below market rate. This will help the airport’s airline partners realize cost savings and a more secure supply chain, the SRAA contends.

“With the total investment of over $19 million, this recycling system will … not only be able to treat everything that’s within Syracuse and its future, but also treat deicing fluid from nearby airports in order to help us out and be more carbon neutral within … New York state,” Gabriel Lèpine, COO and head of operations for Aero Mag, said in his remarks at the press event.