Enhancing Winter Maintenance: The Benefits of Upgrading Your Salt Brine the Right Additive

February 2025

Winter can present significant challenges for those tasked with snow removal. Property owners, contractors, and municipal winter road maintenance professionals all play crucial roles in ensuring the safety and accessibility of surfaces during winter.

Snow and ice accumulation can create hazardous conditions for pedestrians and vehicles alike, making addressing these issues promptly and effectively essential. Utilizing advanced de-icing solutions important for managing snow and ice buildup quickly and efficiently.

While traditional rock salt and salt brine remain widely used in the industry, there are advanced alternatives available that can enhance efficiency and achieve salt savings.

In this blog, we will explore enhanced salt brine and why industry professionals should consider using it over traditional salt brine.

What is Salt Brine?

Before diving into enhanced salt brine, let's first understand what traditional salt brine is and why it may not be the ideal solution for de-icing situations.

Salt brine is made from a blend of rock salt and water at a precise concentration of 23.3%. If the concentration is too high or too low, it can lead to operational issues and reduced effectiveness. If you produce your own salt brine, you will be held liable for any problems with your solution.

Salt brine is a weak chloride that rapidly dilutes and dries quickly, especially in high-traffic areas. This means more frequent applications are needed to maintain safe surfaces, increasing labour and material costs. Additionally, the need for constant reapplication can create operational challenges, diverting resources and attention from other essential winter maintenance tasks.

Another significant issue with salt brine is the corrosive damage it can cause to property, equipment, and landscaping. With a rating of 100 on the Clear Roads Corrosion Scale, salt brine's frequent reapplication can result in costly spring maintenance repairs. While salt and salt brine are applied differently, as a de-icer, both are salt-based and share the same melting capabilities limitations and corrosion rating. To boost the effectiveness of salt brine, consider using a salt brine additive or enhancer.

What is a Salt Brine Enhancer?

A salt brine enhancer or additive is an additional chemical that when blended to your salt brine adds value, by making it more effective at colder temperatures or less corrosive, the best choice for an additive will do both.

You create an enhanced salt brine by blending additives like calcium chloride liquid, magnesium chloride, an OBPE blended with organic compounds to the basic salt brine mixture. You want results with reasonable add rates. Look for a product that will provide benefits at the 10 to 30% add rates. The addition of the additives improves the brine's capabilities, providing a solution that offers operational ease, works faster, lasts longer, and performs more effectively under challenging winter conditions. Remember the more you can use your liquids the more salt savings you will have.

Benefits of Enhanced Salt Brine

At Innovative, we offer Magic–0 for enhancing your salt brine. Made with a proprietary blend of magnesium chloride and free-grade molasses, this product significantly helps road maintenance professionals get the most out of their winter program.

When used to enhance salt brine it offers the following benefits:

1. Instant melting action: Magic-0 enhanced brine is designed for immediate effectiveness, eliminating the need for activation. As soon as it is applied to a surface, it begins to work right away, efficiently melting snow and ice upon contact.
2. User-friendly application: Unlike traditional salt brine, which can gel in nozzles and cause frustrating interruptions during application, Magic-0 prevents jelling. This allows for a seamless spraying experience, making it easier for operators to apply the solution quickly and efficiently, reducing downtime.
3. Reduced corrosiveness: Magic-0 enhanced brine has a rating of 23.1^* on the Clear Roads corrosion scale. A reduction compared to salt brine and salt, which sits at 100 and calcium chloride at 120! With its low corrosion rating, the Magic-0 brine enhancer protects your property and vehicles from the impact of corrosion damage, saving you money on repair costs.
4. EProlonged melting effectiveness: Magic-0 includes additional solids that help slow dilution and refreezing, resulting in a longer-lasting melting effect and more reliable performance of your salt brine.
5. Lower freeze point: Enhanced brine has a freeze point of -14°F (-26°C)^*, compared to traditional brine, which offers no additional melting benefits at lower temperatures.
6. Environmentally friendlier: Enhanced brine stays on the ground longer, reducing the need for reapplication and minimizing chloride runoff, which helps protect waterways and the environment.

*results provided at the 30% add ratio, numbers vary with different add rates.

Where can Enhanced Salt Brine be used?

Enhanced brine is effective on all ground surfaces. It is commonly used by contractors and property owners to quickly melt snow and ice in areas that must remain accessible, such as sidewalks, parking lots, and entryways. By using enhanced brine, property managers can expedite snow removal, reduce the risk of slips and falls, and improve accessibility.

Enhanced Salt Brine Application Methods

Enhanced brine can be applied before a snow or ice event to create a barrier that prevents ice from bonding to the surface, known as anti-icing. It can also be applied during or after a snow event to melt any existing snow and ice from the surface, known as de-icing.

Investing in high-quality equipment for even application is key to achieving the best results.

Common equipment used include:

Spray Bar : A pencil spray bar that attaches to the back of an equipment truck, enabling precise and uniform distribution of materials across the road surface for effective treatment.

Sidewalk Snow Vehicle : A specialized vehicle designed to clear snow and ice from sidewalks, walkways, and pedestrian areas. These compact and maneuverable vehicles are ideal for navigating tight spaces and narrow areas where larger snowplows cannot reach.

Backpack Sprayer : A portable, handheld device used for the targeted application of liquid solutions on sidewalks, stairs, and parking lots. It is ideal for maneuvering in areas with limited access or where vehicles can't go.

Why Switch To A Salt Brine Enhancer?

Enhanced salt brine is becoming the preferred choice for winter maintenance amongst property owners and contractors. Its superior performance, cost-efficiency, and environmentally friendlier characteristics set it apart from traditional salt brine.

By preventing ice formation and reducing the need for excessive application, enhanced brine not only improves safety but also protects your surfaces from damage and reduces maintenance costs.

Upgrading from traditional salt brine to an enhanced salt brine can improve the efficiency of your winter maintenance program.