Thawrox+ - natural de-icing technology

Agricultural by-products have been used successfully in North America for more than ten years. The additive Safecote® has been used in conjunction with rock salt in the UK for over seven years. Thawrox+ is ideal for precautionary salting during periods of cold weather, in addition to using strategic salt stocks.

Rock salt can be prone to bridging and tunnelling in vehicle hoppers, leading to problems with spreading. The special additive that coats the rock salt particles makes it flow evenly through the vehicle hopper, with little or no clogging to spinners and chutes.

The spread pattern is more efficient as the additive binds the finer rock salt particles together - this helps reduce wind borne loss and also cuts down bounce off in the larger particles. As a result, the spread pattern is more efficient, offering greater spread widths and up to 30% reduction in salt usage. What's more, with reduced spreading, vehicles do not need to return to the depots often, so spreading routes can be optimised, overall operational costs can be reduced and resilience increased.

Although Thawrox+ is a premium product it still offers a number of cost benefits - far outweighing savings that may be made using an untreated salt product. These benefits include:

• good adhesion to the road, keeping the surface damp for several days
• significant metal corrosion protection - the life expectancy of spreading vehicles can be increased with continued use of Thawrox+. Customers who have used pre-wetted technology for longer periods have found the life expectancy of a spreading vehicle chassis can be reduced by two years.
• less freeze/thaw damage to carriageways.
• reduced salt corrosion of street furniture such as streetlamps and road signs - cutting down on maintenance and capital costs.
• less wash-down time for the spreading vehicles

Despite the innovative nature of the product, no specialised equipment is needed to use it – so there is no additional capital outlay required.

In addition to all the practical and economic benefits, Thawrox+ is better for the environment too. Owing to the additive deriving from a food grade renewable source, it degrades easily and as less of the product is needed, the amount of chloride entering the environment in the first place is significantly reduced.