HomeTop StoriesThe city's secret weapon against ice cream: beet tap

The city’s secret weapon against ice cream: beet tap

ELKHART – If you’re driving around town and you notice the roads aren’t quite as icy, you can thank the city’s Street Department and Beetroot Concentrate.

Beet Heet concentrate juice, or CS27 as it is now called, is a blended sugar beet extract solution with natural chloride mineral brine. It reduces salt application rates by 30 percent and lowers operating costs, according to the manufacturer.

“We have a 1:1 mix, so it’s one portion of salt, one portion of sand, and then we use the juice,” said City Street Commissioner Mike Szucs. “That’s what makes our roads better than everything else in the area.”

Regular rock salt takes the melting point of the ice down to only about 15 degrees, while the CS27 takes the melting point down to minus 25 degrees, according to Mark Dean, a chloride solutions sales representative who sells the CS27.

The CS27 also stays on the roads longer than normal rock salt, so the street departments that use it don’t have to use as much of it.

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“The sugars are a larger molecule, and they actually absorb around the chlorides, so that’s how you get the reduction in corrosion,” Dean said. “But the other thing you get is, it sticks where you put it, so instead of it bouncing and spreading off the road, it stays there and then a thicker product, it doesn’t get washed away or diluted out or remembered. “

Szucs said his team knows the CS27 is working when there is a brown velvet look on the roads. The only downside is that the product gives off a bad odor that smells like rotten dog food.

The CS27 is stored in a warehouse in Webberville, Michigan, where chloride solutions are based. The city street was his CS27 in a 3,000 gallon tank and two 5,000 gallon tanks in the back of the facility.

According to Dean, the CS27 product is used in the Midwest and on the East Coast. It can save City Street departments a lot of money because the product also lasts longer.

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“If you can reduce the corrosiveness of it, the trucks and equipment don’t get rusted,” Dean said. ‘That ensures that the truck lasts longer. I’ve had guys say they were using [CS27]and when the economy got tough and their budgets were cut, they went with a cheaper alternative. They quickly came back because they noticed the corrosion was through the roof and they said it’s just not worth it. “

Szucs said the city uses its work trucks for everything from plowing to leaf removal to paving roads, so it saves the department a lot of money to keep the trucks in good condition.

Szucs also said that sometimes when there is freezing rain, a lot of salt can get stuck in the back of trucks in the winter. With CS27, aside from the 2019 Polar Vortex, the street division has had no trouble getting a load of salt, sand and juice mix. Dean said any salt treated at the end of the winter season will not become a big clump and will save time when the salt comes out when it is time.

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“Almost all my customers who use it, the mayors or county council members are really concerned about roads melting and keeping them from coming back,” Dean said. “This really allows you to do that and it does work. Anyone who uses it will tell you that there is a very big difference between using a mix of ours and using straight rock salt. ”

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