If you’ve ever lived somewhere it gets properly cold, you’ll know that winter’s icy grasp brings the inevitable challenge of keeping roadways safe. While road salt and gritting have long been the go-to solutions, their detrimental environmental impact and the potential for infrastructure degradation are well-documented.
However, a game-changing new development might just offer a brighter, greener solution. Just imagine it—roads that stay ice free without requiring regular attention.
Rethinking Road Salt
Put this stuff in asphalt, and you’ve really got something. Credit: Research paper, ACS Omega
The environmental hazards posed by chloride-based salts are significant. When these salts are washed off roads, they can contaminate nearby water sources. Furthermore, the repeated application throughout the winter months causes wear and tear on the roads and induces nasty corrosion on vehicles and infrastructure. There’s a reason cars in snowbelt regions rust so much faster, after all. And while road salt does serve its purpose of melting ice, once a fresh layer of ice forms, drivers are back in peril until salt trucks make their rounds again.
To address these concerns, many municipalities have embarked on a mission to formulate a safer alternative. Solutions include everything from byproducts from sugar beet refining or ethanol production processes. Recently, though, researchers from China’s Hebei University of Science and Technology have been working with an environmentally-friendly, chloride-free acetate-based salt. As per the research paper, not only is this salt kinder to our planet, but it’s also less corrosive, making it gentler on vehicl ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
