Exploring the Use of Polyols, Corn, and Beet Juice for Decreasing the Freezing Point of Brine Solution for Deicing of Pavements

Deicing of pavements is essential to ensure safe and timely movement of traffic in geographical locations where snow and ice events are anticipated. State and local municipalities employ brine solution with 23.3 wt% sodium chloride (NaCl) available in the form of rock salt to deice the pavements. Unlike water, the brine solution does not freeze until the temperature falls below −21.0 °C, i.e., the freezing point of water is depressed by −21.0 °C with the addition of 23.3 wt% NaCl. The depressed freezing point of the brine solution plays a key role in deicing pavements. Unfortunately, a further increase in rock salt content does not lower the freezing point of the brine solution. In this study, different combinations of agricultural products such as polyols including sorbitol, maltitol, and mannitol in brine (23.3 wt% of NaCl in water), and NaCl-juice (corn and beet juice) were investigated to achieve freezing point depressions below −21.0 °C for potential deicing applications in extremely cold areas. Different weight fractions of polyols-brine solutions ranging from 7.14% to 27.77% were considered, and corresponding freezing points were determined. While the sorbitol-brine solution exhibited the lowest freezing point of −38.1 °C at a higher concentration, the maltitol-brine solution exhibited a freezing point of −35.6 °C at the same concentration. Based on the °Brix value, beet juice had almost three times more soluble solids and a lower freezing point compared to corn juice. Adding 23.3 wt% of NaCl in 70% corn juice lowered the freezing point up to −23.5 °C.