Beets may be sweet answer to road ice
A sugar beet byproduct may be used to de-ice part of the Trans-Canada Highway in northern New Brunswick.
BrunWay, the company that built and operates the stretch of highway from King’s Landing to the Quebec border, is considering a pilot project in the St. Leonard area this month.
But company officials have declined to discuss the plan for their coldest, most northern stretch of road, saying it’s still too early.
Sugar beets are a big source of industrial sugar in North America, but the mash that’s left over once the juice is squeezed from the beets often goes to waste.
The product, commonly described as a low-sugar molasses, can be mixed with salt or sand to help them stick to the road better.
It also lowers the freezing point of salt and brine from about 24 C to 34 C, improving the melting efficiency and saving money by reducing the number of applications required.
The anti-icing product is already in use in parts of Ontario and on the Saint John Harbour Bridge.
“When temperatures get down around 15 to 18, with the bridge surface being concrete, our salt would not become active,” said bridge maintenance manager Bill Flowers.
“So we did a test and one of the products that we tested was the GEOMELT55,” the brand name of one of the beet products. “And what we did find with the GEOMELT55 is, in those temperatures, it would make the salt become active and the brine itself would be active.”
The beet byproduct also reduces the amount of salt necessary by up to 30 per cent, making it more environmentally friendly and less corrosive to vehicles, bridge beams and asphalt, said Flowers.
The Harbour Bridge Authority has been using the beet byproduct since 2005.
