Black ice is not only an unpleasant, but also a traumatic, emergency hazardous phenomenon, very typical of Russian sidewalks and highways. Of course, it is easier to prevent it by timely snow removal, both fresh and melting, but this is far from always being done by utilities. One of the cheapest and most effective anti-glaze products is the use of technical salt for roads. Somewhere it is replaced with ordinary sand. We will talk more about this method and the reagent itself later.
What is technical salt?
Salt for roads has several names:
- Mineral concentrate halite.
- Self-landing.
- Stone for technical use.
- Lake.
Regardless of the name chosen, it means a natural mineral that is used for technical purposes: as anti-icing material, for the preparation of drilling fluids, for the preparation and filtration of water, for the production of caustic, chlorine and so on.
The main component of technical salt is sodium chloride (NaCl). Consider now its varieties.
Types of technical salt
Salt on the roads in the winter can be of various types, like all technical. Consider its types in detail:
Stone. Mining is carried out in mines at a decent depth: layers of natural wealth are crushed by special machines and delivered upstairs. Then they are cleaned of impurities and ground into smaller fractions. This is the most environmentally friendly product, which is even beneficial to our health. Therefore, sanatoriums are opened near the old salt mines, where airway diseases are prevented in special cells underground.
- Lake (self-landing). The main variety in the Russian Federation - about. Baskunchak. It is extracted from layers at the bottom of salt lakes. They are definitely dissolved at the beginning of the process. Then, salt is directly evaporated from the resulting solution.
- Career. This is the salt for the least cleaned roads. The content of sodium chloride in it as a component is at the level of 90%. It can be either stone or lake. It is distinguished by a characteristic "dirty" color - gray, reddish. Due to the presence of insoluble particles, the scope of such a salt is narrowed. At the same time, the product has a great advantage - it is cheap. Therefore, technical salt for roads, for the most part, is precisely career salt.
- Tableted. It is considered a first-class product - the content of sodium chloride in it is not lower than 99.7%. It is distinguished by the almost complete absence of insoluble elements. Evaporated by vacuum on special equipment, and then pressed into tablets.
Composition of the product
Salt for roads consists of the following elements:
- sodium chloride;
- calcium ion:
- magnesium ion;
- sulfate ion;
- potassium ion;
- iron oxide (III);
- insoluble sediment of other rocks;
- some moisture.
Percentages of the items presented vary by product grade.
The largest manufacturers
Represent the largest manufacturers who supply salt for roads and not only:
- "Belaruskali". The fraternal state enterprise is primarily known as a manufacturer of potash fertilizers for agricultural production. Technical salt is the second direction of its activity.
- "Astrasol". Astrakhan enterprise that supplies self-salt to the market.
- "Artyomsol". The main industrial center of the enterprise with more than a century of history is located in Soledar (Ukraine). It is engaged in the extraction, processing and marketing of a product - halite concentrate.
- "Iletskol". The oldest Russian company engaged in the extraction and processing of rock salt. Located in Sol-Iletsk (Orenburg region), it implements, among other things, technical salt for bagged roads.
- The Bassol. Astrakhan enterprise engaged in the extraction and sale of self-salt.
Product varieties
It is customary to distinguish three categories of quality:
- Top grade. The content of sodium chloride is not lower than 98.1%.
- First grade. The proportion of NaCl is not less than 96.5%.
- Second grade. The presence of sodium chloride is not lower than 93%.
Grinding salt
The following types are distinguished:
- E - blocks 200 x 200 x 400 mm, 200 x 200 x 200 mm.
- D (grinding No. 4) - crumbs with a diameter of up to 20 mm. The content of bulk particles is not more than 15%.
- C (grinding No. 3) - grains with a diameter of up to 4.5 mm. The proportion of larger elements is not more than 15%.
- In (grinding No. 2) - particles with a diameter of up to 2.5 mm. The content of more voluminous elements is not more than 5%.
- A (grinding No. 1) - grains with a diameter of up to 1.2 mm. The share of larger elements is not more than 3%.
Packaging and cost of product
The price of technical salt in bags of 50 kg is interesting both for utilities and organizations, individuals. However, this is not the only possibility of packaging the product:
- Bulk - cars up to 70 tons, dump trucks up to 20 tons and so on.
- "Big run" up to 1 t.
- Bags of 50, 25 kg.
Let's see the average product prices in the latest packaging.
| Manufacturer | 25 kg bag | 50 kg bag |
| Belkali | 150-200 rub. | 250-350 rub. |
| Uralkali | 170-200 rub. | 350-400 rub. |
| "Bassol" | 170-200 rub. | 350-400 rub. |
And now we will discuss what are the benefits and harms of using this material.
