Airplanes, deicing

Glycerol is a liquid often used in automobile antifreeze and airplane deicing fluid. 

Figure 22.8d shows the molecule 1,2,3-propanetriol, commonly called glycerol. It is another alcohol containing more than one hydroxyl group. Glycerol is often used as an antifreeze and as an airplane deicing fluid. 

Propylene glycol is commonly used to make antifreeze and deicing solutions for cars, airplanes, and boats to make polyester compounds and as solvents in the paint and plastics industries. It is used as a substitute for ethylene glycol mono-alkyl ethers in all-purpose cleaners, coatings, inks, nail polish, lacquers, latex paints, and adhesives. It is also used to create artificial smoke or fog used in fire-fighting training and in theatrical productions. 

Freezing-point depression has some practical uses, such as in deicing airplanes, a process that uses ethylene glycol as a solute. 

One of the first Cold War actions that involved the Chemical Corps was the Berlin Blockade in 1949. Cold weather caused frost to build up on the airplanes flying to Berlin with supplies. The accepted method of ice removal was to use brooms to sweep the ice off. This slow and dangerous work was replaced by the corps s using decontamination trucks to spray isopropyl alcohol, which was used as a deicer since glycerin was not readily available. A large plane could be deiced in about 5 minutes, and the corps was credited with keeping the airplanes from being delayed by frost.119... 

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