After two days and 20 cleanup specialists, highway crews have turned to common household items to remove animal fat from three expressway ramps.
Dish detergent and a product made primarily from boiled orange peels will be used to clean the slippery, greasy mess that closed ramps connecting eastbound Interstate 74 to I-75 and Central Parkway on Thursday.
On Friday, workers remained unsure how long it will take to rid an area the size of four to five football fields of what's left of 46,000 pounds of animal fat that spilled from a tanker. Cleanup will continue today.
"We can get it off the surface fairly easy," said Tom Klug, a Hamilton County manager from the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). "But the lard worked into the concrete pores and solidified."
On Thursday, workers shoveled off up to 3 inches of fat and began using liquid Tide to penetrate what was stuck in the concrete. That didn't work.
Friday morning, 12 truckloads of sand heated to 280 degrees were spread onto the ramps, but the lard seeped back to the surface. After three high-pressure washings, the Clean Harbors Environmental Services, contracted by Marcotte Trucking to lead the cleanup, looked for alternatives.
"There are a lot of products that would have worked to clean this up quickly," said Don Mitchell of Ward North America, who was monitoring cleanup standards. "But the last thing we want to do is cause more problems."
ODOT wanted a non-polluting product that could remove the grease that had permeated the concrete. They worried that embedded grease might seep back.
Crews had no shortage of advice.
Cleaning specialists showed up with their products to clean the asphalt. But after six hours of testing, crews turned to liquid Dawn -- which also had been recommended in calls from Tristate women. "We've never tested it on highways until today," said Damon D. Jones of Procter & Gamble.
Concrete will be cleaned with Big Orange-E, a solution whose basic ingredient is boiled-down orange peels.
