Granular De-icers
Calcium Chloride for Snow and Ice Control.
Wetted Salt with Liquid Calcium Chloride
At 25F (4C), rock salt takes a full 19 minutes to embed in ice and hard packed snow. Wetted with a 32% calcium chloride solution, rock salt immediately digs in and holds a close pattern on winter roads even when temperatures drop down to 0F (18C). Wetted salt reduces the need for frequently repeated applications, decreasing material use by as much as 40%.
Prewetted Salt Application
Storing 30% to 32% calcium chloride solution in bulk tanks provides the right product for the fast, efficient spraying on rock salt as needed. Except for the equipment and adaptation methods described below, wetted salt application techniques vary only slightly from those for conventional rock salt.
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Spraying in the spreader truck (“Overhead”)
Load rock salt into the spreader truck and drive it beneath a spray bar containing calcium chloride solution. You can then easily spray the amount of calcium chloride needed onto the salt. -
Spraying during application (“Onboard”)
Spreader trucks equipped with calcium chloride tank/feeder systems allow fast and effective application of wetted salt. During application, the salt is wetted with the calcium chloride solution and spread simultaneously.
Calcium Chloride VS Competitive Deicers
Rock Salt (Sodium Chloride)
- Has substantially diminished effectiveness below 25F (4C). The amount of ice melted per pound of rock salt drops 61% from 30F to 25F
- Melts less ice in a given time period
- Has slower melting action
- Bounces and scatters off road (typically 30%)
- Has environmentally negative impact
Sand and/or Abrasives
- Does not melt ice and snow, just provides some traction
- Bounces and scatters off road
- Requires cleanup
Rock Salt and Sand/Abrasives Combined
- Offer less melting performance over rock salt alone.
How Calcium Chloride and Rock Salt Work Together
Calcium Chloride
- Releases heat
- Attracts moisture
- Fast melting action produces brine
Rock Salt
- Takes on heat
- Requires moisture
- Brine starts melting action of salt
Additional Winter Uses for Liquid Calcium Chloride
- Wetted abrasives: spray calcium chloride solution on abrasives to help them embed quickly in ice and snow, save applications, material, manpower, and equipment costs.
- Freeze resisting stockpiles: spray 32% calcium chloride solution on coal, sand, abrasives, limestone, wood chips, ores and minerals as they are built into stockpiles to keep them free flowing in winter. Or spray entire stockpiles after they are built for the same long lasting protection.
- Thawing frozen stockpiles: restore frozen solid stockpiles to their original condition by adding calcium chloride solution to the frozen masses.
- Similarly add liquid calcium chloride to rail cars to thaw out frozen material or coat empty rail cars to prevent freezing.
Benefits
- Highway Safety: studies show that, in 85% of applications, calcium chloride/salt mixtures achieve bare pavement faster than salt alone at temperatures near 30F (1C), to ease traffic and reduce accidents.
- Savings: calcium chloride increases salt’s effectiveness, therefore reducing the number of applications necessary during storms – saving manpower, equipment and material costs. Plus, it freeze proofs abrasives to help them embed in ice and snow, so you lose less material to spreader bounce and traffic scattering.
Properties
- Exothermic: calcium chloride releases heat to activate salt’s melting ability.
- Hygroscopic: calcium chloride attracts moisture required for rock salt’s melting action.
- Fast acting calcium chloride begins to dissolve immediately upon application to break the bond between pavement and ice.
- Powerful calcium chloride brine remains active for prolonged periods of time to prevent ice from bonding to the highway.
- Low eutectic point calcium chloride melts at much lower temperatures than salt.
Slips and falls on ice and snow constitute a major public health issue, with approximately 1 million people in the U.S. seeking emergency room care annually for injuries related to walking on ice and snow. Around 97% of injuries caused by winter weather conditions are related to slipping on ice.
Data indicates that applying ice melt and de-icing materials to roads and walkways dramatically improves safety, reducing vehicle collisions by up to 85% to 93% compared to untreated snowy or icy conditions. Road surface condition is the single most important factor in winter driving safety, more crucial than visibility or precipitation intensity.