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EnviroTech Journal

Welcome to the EnviroTech Services blog! Check out all the latest industry tips and tricks coming straight to you from
the experts at EnviroTech Services. Our posts will discuss ESI projects, product updates, usage tips, new technologies, industry developments, and company news. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter!

EnviroTech’s Lab Prepares to Measure the Influence of Deicers on Friction

As we detailed in our November Blog, EnviroTech and Redmond are working with WTI (Western Transportation Institute) to develop a test that measures the influence a deicer has on surface friction. The existing standard test, SHRP 205 doesn’t provide performance-based results that speak to the true goal of deicing – which is to return a driving surface to a safe friction level as quickly as possible for a sustained period, and at maximum efficiency. Again, this new friction test, and its resulting data, was developed as a test method using a friction analyzer, a cold plate, and simulated track to measure the true effectiveness of deicers - replicating as closely as possible real-life conditions. 

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Calibrate: Ensure the Desired Amount of Salt is Used to Maximize Financial Benefits and Minimize Chloride Levels

Snowfighters that operate snowplows can definitely tell if the blade on their plow isn’t operating or working correctly, but the performance and effectiveness of the salt spreader which isn’t readily visible is less easy to tell if it is working correctly.  To ensure spreaders are working properly users should perform routine maintenance and calibrate them.

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SOS™: Salt Treatment that’s Better for the bottom line and the environment

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.

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Cases for Enhancing Salt Brine with AMP® for better Snow & Ice Control

AMP® is one of EnviroTech’s latest product releases and it brings technical innovation and outstanding product quality to the salt brine additive market. Salt Brine is a great tool for snowfighters, as it can be used for pre-treating, deicing and anti-icing. But salt brine alone has some very detectable performance limitations: 1) salt brine is prone to drying out and being blown from the surface by the wind, 2) the melting point of salt brine is often not low enough to be effective in many storms, and 3) salt brine is among the worst options in terms of the corrosion it will cause. 

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Chloride Reduction: Ways to Help the Environment with a Low Salt Diet While Still Maintaining Safe Travel

FcaWhen snow and ice melts, the salt goes with it, washing into our lakes, streams, wetlands, and groundwater. When winter comes and snow and ice build-up on roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, one of the most common reactions is to apply salt, which contains chloride.

A study termed the “Freshwater Salinization Syndrome,” have occurred most prominently in densely populated watersheds in the eastern and mid-western U.S. where salinity and alkalinity have increased most rapidly. Cities, counties and states are doing different things to reduce and limit the Chloride (Cl-) in their water..

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Ice Slicer the Value Picture: Consider Total Cost of Ownership When Choosing a Deicer

For winter maintenance agencies and contractors, snow and ice control is a vital function of their work providing safe conditions for the public. Using an innovative product that reduce costs, improves safety, and mitigates environmental impacts is increasingly important.


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Why Anti-Ice with Liquids? To save money and time while protecting the environment.

Anti-icing using liquid brines is a proactive method of snow and ice control. It’s a proven method to reduce chlorides and lower costs with nearly every state DOT in the US using Liquid Anti-icers. The brines are approximately 20-32% salt (depending on type of salt brine used) and is applied to pavements before a storm to prevent snow and/or ice from bonding. Both liquid and granular deicing/anti-icing products have benefits that, when applied correctly, will maximize your road service levels to keep people safe while minimizing costs to you and the environment. The success of your anti-icing/deicing program depends on your knowledge and application of the right products at the right times depending on conditions. “Dry deicers with wet snow and liquid deicers with dry snow”. 

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AMP Receives PNS Approval

EnviroTech is proud to announce that our new salt brine enhancing product AMP, has received approval from the Pacific Northwest Snowfighters Association (PNS). PNS members are a collection of transportation agencies throughout the states of Washtington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, as well as British Columbia. The guidelines established by PNS assist users in product selection by requiring that corrosion inhibited approved products:

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durablend-C™ at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge – Reducing Chlorides and Tradeoffs

The topic of how to treat areas with unique or highly sensitive ecological needs has been long standing within dust control markets. The days of using things like waste oil to treat roads are long gone, and the vast majority of vetted products present very little risk to the environments they enter. Still, there are outlying areas that cannot tolerate chlorides at any significant level. Places like the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, which have precious and biologically diverse wetlands to preserve.

And although places like Squaw Creek have a growing number of chloride free products to choose from – the issue is not so easily settled. Why? Because many of these products simply do not perform. Just like calorie free sweeteners or soy based veggie burgers, it can be hard to remove an element or ingredient and still get the punch we want. It is the classic consumer tradeoff that good product developers constantly look to close. durablend-C™ is EnviroTech’s latest step forward in this quest.

For Squaw Creek, however, maintaining its ecology was about more than finding a decent sugar free coffee sweetener. As such, they entered into a rigorous screening process to identify products worthy of including in an on-site study. In short, durablend-C™ passed the test. And not just because it did not have an adverse interaction with the wetlands. It passed because it worked. A single application of durablend-C™ that incorporated ESI’s proprietary Compact & Cap™ program performed as well or better than two applications of the alternative product tested over the same timeline without compromising the ecosystem.

Application of durablend-C™

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Hamburg Wheel Test - HOW the Rubber Meets the Road (Literally)

“Custom Solutions”. “Cutting Edge Technology”. “Consultative Sales Approach”. Ah, the buzzwords of sales and marketing. They adorn conversations with sales people the way neon lights bring ambiance to a pool hall. But what do they mean and do they deliver more than just a shiny light to stare at while having a cold brew?

Similar to how EnviroTech has worked diligently to bring sound science to our dust control and deicing industries (as well as others), we are taking concrete steps to turn the buzzwords of sales and marketing into tangible results. The latest version of this takes the form of a piece of equipment known as a Hamburg Wheel Tracking Test (HWT), which gives ESI a wholly unique testing capability for our dust control and road maintenance customers.

The HWT was developed in Germany and gives ESI the ability to run side by side tests that compare the nuanced balance between product selection, application rate, native soil, expected traffic patterns, and anticipated weather. So, instead of running field tests (which are more expensive and time consuming) to get the optimal mixture of product type and application, ESI can work with you to get the right combination before any field applications occur. Here’s how it worked in a recent test:

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