For the 2017-18 winter season, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) (Jefferson City, Missouri, USA) has added new products, including a corn-based compound, to their deicer lineup for treating ice and snow on roadways.
“The corn-based portion of the product is a carrier for magnesium chloride [MgCl2],” says MODOT maintenance engineer Mark Croarkin. “These products typically cost a little more to mix, but they can be more effective.”
The products are part of the Ice Ban organic corrosion inhibitor line from AJP Corp. (Goshen, Indiana, USA), Croarkin says. Testing indicates the inhibitors, which are liquid concentrate residues from the wet milling of corn and production of alcohol, are less corrosive on metal than many other ice melters as well as water, and inhibit corrosion caused by chloride salts.
Croarkin estimates that roads treated with the new corn-based product are about 25% more effective overall, with superior results in colder temperatures.
“The benefits we have seen depend on the temperature; the colder the storm, the better the results,” Croarkin says. “For us, this is another tool in our toolbox to treat roadways.”