We got the beet! 7 facts about beet juice on highways

You don't have to work for the Kansas Department of Transportation to know we use beet juice to help battle ice on highways during the winter.

But could you pass a pop quiz on it? Do you know how to explain why KDOT crews use sugar beet juice to fight wintry road conditions? 

Think of it this way: The sugar in sugar beet juice offers sweet benefits for ice-fighting efforts on the highways, especially when pre-treating trouble areas like bridges, which tend to ice up faster than non-elevated pavement. There’s a chemistry at work, says Jim Frye, Field Maintenance Manager/Emergency Coordinator with KDOT.

Frye recently gave beet and brine application training to south central Kansas snow-and-ice crews in Larned and Wichita. 

Jim Frye talks with District Five employees during beet/brine application training on Jan. 14 in Wichita.

Here are seven points -- and a little science lesson -- from the teacher that could help you pass the quiz and explain it to others:

• Beet juice added to brine (saltwater) is especially useful with temperatures from 15 down to 5 degrees. That’s because beet juice, as Frye says, “slows the process of water molecules forming into (ice) crystals. Come to find out, sugar helps the water molecules from freezing solid down in these lower temperatures. It keeps it slushy, which is what we want.”
  
• Because beet juice is sticky, it holds ice-fighting brine to pavement longer.
  
• Other advantages: By using a mix of beet and brine, it takes less brine, so it lowers the corrosive effect of the salt in brine – which helps cut down on road and bridge repair. It also reduces the amount of salt seeping into the environment.
  
• Does beet juice look brownish and get on vehicles? Yes, but it will wash off with water.
  
• KDOT uses beet juice to pretreat or treat highways at more than 20 locations around the state.
  
• KDOT has used beet juice for about five years now.
  
• The beet juice comes from an Iowa supplier. 

Remember that crews work hard to clear Kansas roads. Make sure you give them plenty of room to work, and check www.kandrive.org for updated road conditions. 

Beet juice offers alternative solution to snow fighting

By Lisa Mussman
Public Affairs Manager for northwest Kansas

For decades, KDOT has used a combination of sand, salt and salt brine as part of their snow fighting efforts, but crews in parts of northwest Kansas have added a new tool to their arsenal in recent years: Beet juice.

Beet juice is an agricultural by-product from the process to make goods such as table sugar and cattle feed. As a standalone product, beet juice has little to no melting properties, but when mixed with salt brine, it will help the brine continue to work at lower temperatures to treat icy and snow-packed surfaces. Regular salt brine begins to lose effectiveness at around 15 degrees Fahrenheit. When beet juice is added, the freezing point can be lowered by another 15 to 20 degrees.

Colby Subarea Supervisor Brad Reeh says his crew has been using the product for about five years and has had success with it.

“We have been mixing it at a 10 percent ratio with brine and only using it when the temps are going to be below 15 degrees.” Reeh said. “When combining it with brine and salt and sand, it seems to stick to the snow-pack better and keep the product working on the road longer.”

That stickiness and staying power is important in allowing KDOT crews more time to work on other routes if needed. But don’t expect to see the roads turning red or purple. The solution is actually brown in color and can be easily washed off vehicles.

While beet juice is still relatively new to Kansas, it has been used in the Northeast and Upper Midwest since the early 2000's. It is among a handful of alternative products including molasses, beer waste, pickle brine and cheese brine that other departments of transportation are experimenting with to reduce salt usage.