Glycol products represent a major portion of the business nationwide with three of the Delta Companies making these products. Ethylene Glycol (EG) and Propylene Glycol (PG) are two commodity chemicals manufactured by many large chemical Companies. Glycols are used for many different applications, including aircraft de-icing, anti-freeze, heat transfer fluids, textiles, resins, detergents, cosmetics and others.

Delta Rocky Mountain Petroleum, Inc., Olympic Oil, and Delta Atlantic, Inc., all blend glycol products for aircraft deicers, (ADF), anti-freeze (AF) and heat transfer fluids (HTF). All of the products can be manufactured using either EG or PG, depending on the end use and the preference of the end user.

The North American AF market is nearly 4 billion pounds per year. Only 500 million is blended by independents, of which the Delta Companies represent a good portion.

The US requirement for ADF is about 18MM gallons per year.The Delta Companies blend about 40%, and manufactures both EG and PG type products on behalf of the three dominate marketers.

The ADF industry requires two types of products, Type I – Aircraft deicing fluid and Type IV – Aircraft anti-icing fluids.  Delta currently has facilities to produce Type I but are limited on producing Type IV due to equipment limitations.  However, both facilities has the ability to produce Type IV provided the capital and equipment were made available.

This deicer business sector represents about 8 MM gallons annually with Potassium Acetate being the highest volume product used. The industry appears to be converting almost exclusively to this product for liquid runway deicers. Other liquid deicers include PG/Urea and Sodium Formate.  Solid runway deicers are also used and include various products that include sand, sodium acetate, and sodium formate.

The manufacturing process involves an exothermic reaction and very few plants are set up to handle the products and the manufacturing. Based on the complexity of the products and our geographic location, we believe that the Delta Companies are well positioned to grow this business. Additionally, the Department of Transportation is reviewing the environmental effects of the current roadway deicers, magnesium chloride, and may elect to replace these products with Potassium Acetate in selected locations.