Modern road maintenance during winter season requires completely new approaches. Effectiveness, safety and environmental friendliness are becoming the key criteria for choosing deicing materials. On the grounds of the International Winter Road Congress 2024, Rudolf Ponomarev, Deputy Wholesale Director of UZPM Trading House, told the participants about the changes in technology, the standards being implemented and the challenges being faced by the industry.
The expert noted that as opposed to road salt, modern agents are not only safe and eco-friendly, but also possess better performance characteristics. They are effective at low temperatures, where traditional materials, such as road salt, fail. Moreover, these materials do not cause the issues typical of salt and sand:
“The materials must have the required set of approvals, including the state environmental expert evaluation, safety data sheets and sanitary and epidemiological inspection reports. Modern deicing materials always contain multiple components, which contain, in addition to sodium chloride and calcium chloride, such additives as corrosion inhibitors, biophilic additives, etc., reducing the agents’ environmental impact. Then their corrosion activity is mitigated,” Rudolf Ponomarev said.
One of the key achievements of the industry is the adoption of the national standard GOST 58-427, which details the requirements to materials and their documentation:
“GOST significantly simplifies the understanding of the requirements even for the consumers without special training, including ordinary citizens. Everything important is described in the regulatory framework. All the requirements to materials, the list of approvals to accompany the shipment are completely regulated; each term is defined in the GOST,” the expert said.
However, other challenges still remain. Despite the transparency of the standards, there are unscrupulous suppliers who pass one material off as another one, fail to present the required documents for the product; also, the supplied products can materially differ from the ordered ones or not inspected properly. Besides, the speaker continued, the population has little information about the modern agents and has concerns regarding the safety of deicing materials.
“Chemistry is often demonized; however, it is everywhere around us. The materials based on natural salt have been subject to multiple tests, and their safety has better confirmations than some foodstuffs. It is important to understand that nothing used in a modern metropolitan city can pose any threat. In this particular case, manufacturers, expert community, industrial institutions and mass media make great efforts to educate the public,” Rudolf Ponomarev stated.
According to the Deputy Wholesale Director of UZPM Traiding House, the sector of winter road maintenance is constantly changing: the standards are tightened, the technologies advance, and the society demands higher safety and environmental friendliness. To meet those challenges, it is important to continue the development and implementation of modern solutions, making the cities cleaner and safer.