Our Solution to Slippery Roads and Dust Control

From recent field-testing, we know that DUST/BLOKR® treated roads are more robust and resistant to breakdown than roads treated with road salts. Yet, oil and salt products were the main dust control methods used all over our planet in 2019.

 

While we need products that control dust for safety issues, the problem with using hydrocarbon-based (oil) products and road salts (chlorides), is that they don’t mix with water — so rain becomes an issue.

After a rainfall, the oil blankets the top of the road and creates a slick, slippery surface. After the oil dries, it hardens. When you add water to that again you lose traction on the road.

Safety is a huge concern when applying a dust control product, but fixing a visibility issue and creating a slippery road doesn’t always work.

DUST/BLOKR® treated roads, compared with roads treated with road salts, were shown to be significantly less slippery. These skid resistance tests were performed with a British Pendulum Tester. On roads treated with DUST/BLOKR®, our team saw no adverse effect, while roads treated with chlorides saw breakdown and materials popping out of the surface.

 

Common road salts like magnesium chloride and calcium chloride are hygroscopic, which means they absorb moisture from the atmosphere to keep the road wet and control the dust. Because the road salts absorb moisture, during a rainfall they become extremely slippery, and can run off the road.

The chlorides in these products are highly corrosive and kill vegetation and pollute local bodies of water. Eventually, the runoff can produce salt-water conditions where freshwater fish and animals can no longer survive.

If you’re familiar with Cypher Environmental, you know that environmental sustainability is a big factor when creating our products. We maintain a strong commitment to the environment, and all of our products are environmentally friendly. DUST/BLOKR® is applied with standard equipment and techniques, making adoption of the technology easy for new customers who have applied other more harmful products in the past.

Hydrocarbon-based products create a huge mess on-site and are harmful to the environment.  Aside from that, oil must be reapplied at full strength after rain or road maintenance and is therefore expensive to maintain the initial results.

 

At Cypher Environmental, we know your bottom line is a big factor in selecting a dust control method. DUST/BLOKR® is a cost-competitive, non-corrosive and environmentally friendly alternative to road salts and hydrocarbon-based products.

DUST/BLOKR® doesn’t sit on top of the road. It penetrates the road base. The combination of sugars, starches, and minerals bind the surface materials together, but you are still driving on the aggregate and sand that make up the road surface, therefore traction is not an issue. DUST/BLOKR® maintains a small degree of solubility so the road can be maintained in the presence of moisture (graded) without losing 100% of the dust control results, but won’t run off in the rain, or create a slippery surface. DUST/BLOKR® is not hygroscopic and therefore is effective during long periods of dry weather, without any adverse side effects during and after rain, with no adverse environmental impact.

If you have more questions about DUST/BLOKR®, feel free to contact us at

info@cypherenvironmental.com.