Facts About Beet Juice

FACT: BEET JUICE DOES NOT IMPROVE SALT BRINE PERFORMANCE

A key reason road maintenance professionals turn to salt brine additives is to increase the deicing performance of salt brine at lower temperatures. Pure salt brine used for deicing is 77% water/23% salt. It freezes when road temperatures reach -6°F/-21°C and is generally applied at road temperatures as low as 15°F/-9°C.

• Adding beet juice to salt brine — even at a 20% concentration — does not increase the salt brine’s ice-melting properties or decrease the temperature at which it is effective.
• ArctiClear Gold improves salt brine performance when it is added at just 10% concentration—allowing salt brine to effectively work at road temperatures as low as 5°F/-15°C.

FACT: BEET JUICE REDUCES THE FRICTION OF SALT BRINE

It is important to use deicing products that provide enough surface friction to give drivers adequate traction. Some additives may cause roads to be slick if they are applied at the wrong temperature.

• Beet juice reduces the friction of a salt brine solution by 10% – 20%. This translates to slicker roads and more dangerous driving conditions.
• ArctiClear Gold increases the friction of salt brine by 10% – 20% and allows you to safely apply the brine solution at lower temperatures.

FACT: HIGHER CONCENTRATIONS OF BEET JUICE ARE REQUIRED TO COMBAT CORROSION

Additives can help protect equipment and sensitive infrastructure from the wearing effects of salt. The Pacific Northwest Snowfighters (PNS) Association has established a standardized protocol to measure and predict the corrosion potential of deicing products. On this corrosion scale, pure salt scores 100 and water scores 0. Products must score below 30 to meet most PNS corrosion specifications.

• 25% beet juice concentration is required to lower salt brine’s corrosion score to meet PNS specifications. However, it will also reduce the brine’s ice melting properties. So when beet juice is used as a corrosion inhibitor, application rates should be increased in direct proportion to the amount of beet juice added. Higher concentrations of beet juice also mean higher costs.
• ArctiClear Gold and ArctiClear CI Plus reduce corrosion at much lower concentrations. And, both are approved on the PNS Qualified Products List.

What is ArctiClear® Gold?
ArctiClear Gold contains magnesium chloride and naturally derived sugar in a patented formulation designed to optimize the performance of your salt brine.

What is ArctiClear CI Plus?
ArctiClear CI Plus reduces the corrosion levels of salt brine to acceptable PNS corrosion levels. While it offers no deicing performance improvement, it’s the most economical salt brine corrosion inhibitor on the market.

Don’t let beet juice water down your deicing efforts. Ask your beet juice and salt brine additive provider for independent lab data or send an additive sample mixed with salt brine for independent lab analysis of freeze point, corrosion and friction. Call 800-637-4504 for more guidance in evaluating salt brine additives.