Carling reduces chloride use by 80 per cent.
Innovative Surface Solutions director of product and development Sidd Siddiqi, left, Carling Township Public Works superintendent Joe Ryman, and territory manager for Innovative Surface Solutions Andy Hopkins are shown monitoring the stock piling of winter sand, which is being mixed with the liquid product Caliber M-1000.
Submitted photo
CARLING TWP. - Normally salt is mixed with winter sand at a rate of 3 per cent per for every one tonne of sand. The addition of salt to sand is primarily used to stop the sand pile from freezing in sub zero temperatures. Joe Ryman, Carling Township superintendent of public works, has been monitoring the research and development of a liquid mixture called Caliber M-1000, in cooperation with Innovative Surface Solutions.
Caliber M-1000 is a combination of a 90 per cent sugar mixture using food-grade corn syrup and 10 per cent magnesium chloride. The mixture eliminates the use of salt, therefore reducing the amount of chlorides to area roads by 80 per cent, which will result in a very positive change to the environment, Ryman said.
Through precise, mixture control based on the moisture of sand and climate conditions, Innovative is able provide the proper percentage mix of liquid to the sand. Caliber M-1000 mixed with sand, when applied to the road, has adhesive qualities, which reduces sand being blown off the road and also increases the sand-grit factor optimizing skid resistance, according to a press release from Carling Township.
Over the past six years, Ryman said that Carling Township has applied approximately 12,600 tonnes of sand to area roads, which equates to approximately 378 tonnes of salt that was mixed with the sand. Ryman also said that budget figures were not altered and as a result of using the new product, it will greatly reduce equipment deterioration that will lead to a reduction in operating expenses.
(Submitted article)