Pre-treating stockpiles of sand or salt with SOS™, an offering from EnviroTech Services Inc. (www.envirotechservices.com), will save you money, time, labor, and equipment maintenance.  SOS™ is designed to increase melting efficiency, reduce corrosion, eliminate the need to pre-wet, and keep your salt or sand on the road. Adding SOS™ to your stockpiles will enable you to achieve a higher level of service, safer surfaces and reduced environmental impact.

Use Less Salt

SOS™ is an engineered salt and sand treatment that is a non-toxic, bio-degradable formula with a corrosion index that meets the PNS (Pacific Northwest Snowfighters) Experimental Category - Approved Liquid Corrosion Inhibited Products, Qualified Product List.

In this winter of coming salt shortages, the lower application rates of a SOS™ Treated Salt will allow you to treat more area with the salt you already have on hand by reducing bounce and scatter of traditional non-treated road salt.  A SOS™ Treated Salt keeps more salt applied where it is intended and most effective.

For those of you who are concerned about lowering chloride emissions: invest in learning the science behind the use of a treated salt and take an objective look at salt use per season, per site, per event, etc.

• It is estimated that users of treated salt in the Midwest market have increased more than 20% over the past three years, with much of the conversion coming from contractors earning $1 million or less in snow removal revenue. Users of treated salt use approximately 20% less material while achieving the same results. The contractors can be more profitable by 10% to 20%. 

• It is critical that equipment is calibrated to ensure salt savings are not lost, and that you know exactly how much salt is being applied at each location. 

• The Chloride Conscious (www.chlorideconscious.com) website offers tools and research on ice melt science and modern techniques for snow removal.

The Michigan Department of Transportation conducted a comparison study on the bounce and scatter of treated and untreated salt. It was found that a minimum of 23% more of the treated salt ended up going where it was wanted (MDOT Bureau of Field Services Division, 2012).  Michigan DOT does not endorse the use of SOS™, but does recommend the use of treated salt.

Learn More About SOS™ and download our brochure:

Engineered Salt Treatment Product

Pre-treatment with SOS™ can happen at any time throughout the year due to its design to minimize the leaching out of stockpiles, even in higher humidity conditions. This provides flexibility, allowing the preparation of materials when salt costs are lower and long before the winter season, giving valuable time for the efficient planning of winter operations.  Dry Salt also has a tendency to Bridge, sticking together due to its own weight and higher air moisture levels.  This agglomeration causes issues during both loading and application. Pretreatment with SOS™, keeps your salt flowable, preventing this from occurring. 

Low Treatment Rates and Additional Cost Savings

Treating a stockpile with 6-10 gallons of SOS™ per ton of granular material powerfully enhances the performance of your investment, particularly at colder temperatures. SOS™ can be applied to a stockpile in advance or as it is being delivered. Treating the salt/sand prior to application to the roadway eliminates the need for pre-wetting saddle tanks.

In addition to the savings experienced with lower salt usage, more savings are realized through longer application routes (fewer refills), and increased fuel and labor efficiencies.  

Applying SOS™ Various methods are used for treating salt.  The method chosen depends on a few factors. What is the volume (Tons) of Salt/sand that will be treated? Will the treatment(s) take place once or on an ongoing basis? What resources are available or can be obtained to treat the salt/sand?

Pug mill or Conveyor Wetting Systems often require the least amount of resources, and are best when treating a large amount of salt/sand.  EnviroTech Services has a Mobile Salt Treatment Unit for use by customers with a wetting system conveyor attachment.  We have experience with delivering the right amount of treatment to a stockpile with changes in viscosity, temperature and environmental conditions. EnviroTech’s Mobile Salt Treatment Unit is a perfect solution to treat your stockpiles of salt. 

For operations that don’t have ready access to either a plug-mill or conveyor system with a wetting system, a hose, pump with flowmeter and an earth-moving piece of equipment (loader, skid-steer with a bucket, or similar) will work.  Initially the SOS™ product is applied by spraying it on in a uniform layer (approximately 50% of the application rate) to a known amount of salt/sand (tons).  The treated salt/sand is folded in with the untreated salt/sand with the loader, applying about a quarter (25%) of the application rate turning the treated salt/sand with untreated and repeating this one more time until the application rate is at the optimal amount.   

If you would like to talk to a representative about optimizing your deicing or anti-icing program, feel free to contact EnviroTech at 1-800-369-3878.

For more information about EnviroTech Services’ please visit our website at www.envirotechservices.com or call 800-881-5848.