Transform Your Winter Maintenance with Type 2 Treated Salt

December 2024

Winter’s icy grip creates hazardous conditions for both pedestrians and drivers, making safety a top priority. Traditional de-icing methods, like rock salt, often fail to provide lasting, reliable results. To keep communities safe, winter maintenance professionals must look beyond these standard solutions and toward more advanced approaches.

Reliability is key when planning your winter maintenance strategy. Type 2-treated salt offers a dependable solution, helping you maintain safe conditions without the need for costly changes to your program.

What is Type 2 Treated Salt and How Does OBPE Improve Its Performance?

Type 2-treated salt is an enhancement to traditional rock salt, designed to improve performance for winter maintenance. This solution completely encapsulates the rock salt with an organic-based performance enhancer (OBPE). The OBPE is a specially formulated liquid mixture that meets stringent specifications, ensuring consistent quality and effectiveness. It combines a refined carbohydrate source with premium magnesium chloride or calcium chloride liquid, both known for their superior de-icing capabilities.

The organic-based enhancers help the treated salt adhere better to surfaces, providing longer-lasting results while reducing the need for frequent reapplication. This treatment enhances the salt’s de-icing properties and minimizes environmental impact, making it a more efficient and eco-friendly choice for winter maintenance.

Alongside the essential ingredients, treated salt may also incorporate colourants when necessary. These additives serve a purpose by enhancing visual identification during application processes.

Treated salt is one of the quickest and easiest ways to integrate liquids into your winter maintenance program. The application process remains the same as traditional methods, so it can be used with your existing spreading equipment, eliminating the need for expensive upgrades and extensive staff training. This simplicity allows for a smooth transition, enabling your team to start using treated salt immediately without disrupting workflow.

Benefits of Type 2 Treated Salt with OBPE

A type 2 treated salt offers a range of benefits that will transform your winter maintenance operations. Let's explore the key advantages.

1. Instant melting: A type 2 treated salt melts snow and ice immediately upon application. Unlike traditional rock salt, treated salt does not require sunlight or vehicle traffic to jumpstart the melting process. This instant effect is advantageous when quick melting is needed, such as when an emergency arises or application is required in low-traffic areas or at low-light hours.
2. Lasting melting power: The organic based performance enhancer provides a long-lasting melting power to the salt. The additional solids help maintain melting capacity as the product dilutes. This long-lasting melting power reduces the need for reapplication, saves your crew time on the road, and keeps surfaces safe for longer.
3. Reduce bounce and scatter: Studies from ASTM indicate that 30% of traditional rock salt bounces and scatters off the roadway due to wind and traffic. However, the OBPE liquid in type 2 treated salt increases its weight, helping it stay in place where it is applied.
4. Effectiveness at Lower Temperatures: OBPE treated salt remains effective at temperatures as low as -26°C (-15F), making it suitable for colder environments where traditional salt may fail.

5. Visible application: If required, treated salt can come with the addition of colourant. Colourant allows users to see where the salt was applied to ensure proper coverage and prevent overapplication.
6. Free-Flowing and Easy to Use: Type 2 treated salt is premixed and evenly blended, which prevents common issues like salt jamming or clumping in spreaders. This results in smoother operation and less downtime, making your winter maintenance efforts more efficien
7. Corrosion Resistance: With built-in corrosion inhibitors, Type 2 treated salt is designed to extend the life of your trucks, equipment, and hardware. This added protection helps reduce maintenance costs and prolongs the lifespan of your assets.
8. Environmentally Friendly: Using type 2 treated salt means less product is required to achieve better results, which reduces the amount of chlorides entering the environment. This minimizes damage to infrastructure and vegetation.

What is the difference between a type 1 and type 2 treated salt?

It’s essential to know what you’re buying. Not all coloured salt is treated salt, and not all treated salt is equal.

While some salt may be coloured simply for visibility, making tracking where it’s been applied easier, it doesn’t provide any added performance advantages. Be sure to check with your supplier to know what you are getting.

A type 1 treated salt contains one active ingredient, either magnesium chloride or calcium chloride, allowing for better performance than traditional rock salt.

Type 2 treated salt contains two active ingredients: a premium chloride (magnesium or calcium chloride) and an organic-based performance enhancer (OPBE). It may also include a colourant if required. As we mentioned, the OBPE improves the performance of the treated salt, adding extra benefits.

Type 2 treated salt has a lower phase curve and eutectic value, which allows it to melt snow and ice more quickly at lower temperatures. It remains on surfaces longer, ensuring extended effectiveness throughout a storm. Ultimately, this makes it a more efficient and cost-effective solution for those seeking improved results.

FAQ’s:

What is Type 2 treated salt made of?

Type 2 treated salt is made by enhancing traditional rock salt with an organic-based performance enhancer (OBPE) and premium chlorides such as magnesium chloride or calcium chloride. The OBPE is a liquid mixture that encapsulates the salt, improving its adhesion to surfaces and boosting de-icing performance, even in extreme temperatures. This unique composition makes it a reliable and eco-friendly choice for winter maintenance.

How does OBPE-treated salt improve winter maintenance?

OBPE-treated salt revolutionizes winter maintenance by offering instant and long-lasting melting power. The OBPE liquid reduces scatter and ensures the salt adheres to surfaces, minimizing waste and reapplication needs. Additionally, it enhances performance at temperatures as low as -26°C (-15°F), making it ideal for cold climates. With its built-in corrosion inhibitors, OBPE-treated salt also protects equipment and infrastructure while reducing environmental impact.

Can I use treated salt with my current equipment?

Yes, Type 2 treated salt is designed to be compatible with your existing spreading equipment. It does not require expensive upgrades or additional training. Its free-flowing properties prevent clumping or jamming in spreaders, ensuring smooth operation and an easy transition to using treated salt in your winter maintenance program.

If the salt is coloured does that mean it is a type 2 or OBPE-treated salt?

No, you need to ask what liquid was used to treat the salt. Sometimes only a colourant is added for increased visibility, this is not treated salt but simply coloured salt. It will not offer you the added benefits of an OBPE treated salt.