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De-icing Highways and Roads Using Sugar Beet Juice

By: Dusti Sparks-Meyers, Associated Content

1-15-2010

The typical materials used to remove snow and ice from roadways are salt, calcium chloride, other chemical additives, and the addition of abrasives such as sand, coarse grit, slag, cinders, and bottom ash (from power plants). With the melting point of ice being 32 degrees Fahrenheit and
water freezing into ice at 32 degrees or lower, salt lowers the freezing point of water to -60 degrees, while calcium chloride takes the freezing point to -67 degrees. Unfortunately, the use of salt can damage cement, metal grating, bridges, other structures and vehicles and gradually weakens or destroys the structural integrity of most materials.

Even so, there may be a more effective, eco-friendly "green" alternative to using just salt or calcium chloride combined with other chemicals. The discovery that sugar beet juice can lower the freezing point of water even lower than the typical chemicals currently being used has started an experimentational use of the beet juice mixture on highways across the United States by mixing beet juice with salt or calcium chloride. This alternative de-icer is commonly marketed under the trade names of GeoMelt or Ice Bite.

Sugar beets are a major crop in Midwestern states such Idaho, Minnesota, North Dakota and Michigan. In fact, Americans know Sebewaing, Michigan as the sugar beet capital of the world. Sugar beets are grown and process primarily to make the sweetener commonly known as white table sugar, comparable to sugar made from sugar cane. The United States grows over 25 million metric tons of sugar beets, with only France and Russia ahead. Even so, the main downside to using beet juice is the cost, averaging close to $3.00 or more per gallon compared to around 5 cents a gallon for salt brine.

With the sugar removed from the beet juice, it creates a material similar in consistency to maple syrup that is sticky and brown in color. The juice is then soaked with the more commonly used chemicals. By drastically reducing the amount of salt, calcium chloride, and other chemicals
spread throughout the environment by as much as 50 percent, this translates into a more effective de-icer and with less damage to structures and to the environment. The addition of beet juice not only reduces the corrosive property of salt by 53 percent, lowers the freezing point, and the stickiness factor helps it adhere better to road surfaces.

One of the beneficial effects of using sugar beet juice is that it has less of a detrimental impact on the environment. Overall, it means less tonnage of salt and other chemicals are necessary in order to melt snow and ice; whereas, rock salt and calcium chloride can kill fish, poison water sources, and create a buildup of a corrosive agent on roadways and structures. Beet juice is an up and coming environmentally healthier, better, more effective, and a "green" ecological alternative to making our highways safer.