Beet juice is helping melt ice on roads

Beet juice is helping melt ice on roads

By Gena Kittner
608-252-6139

gkittner@madison.com

It sounds like a chemistry experiment -- 80 percent saltwater, 5 percent calcium chloride and 15 percent beet juice.

That 's right, beet juice. And the result of this sweet-and-salty mix, officials say, is a successful solution for treating city streets during bitter cold weather.

"It works fabulously, " said Chris Walsh, operations director for the city of Beloit, which has used beet juice on its roads to some degree for seven years. The solution lowers the freezing point of brines so they work at temperatures where regular saltwater isn 't effective at melting snow and ice.

It 's also often used to pretreat roads before a storm because it helps the salt and brine stick to roads, she said.

Full Sory: http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/271888