|
Magic
Salt Melts Away Winter Woes
Author:
Mark D. Marotta, Staff Writer
The Willow Grove Guide
Published January 2005 Although
the snowfall these days may be fast and furious,
Upper Moreland businessman John Stenger thinks
he can offer a solution.
Along with partner Bob Young, Stenger
is co-owner of Environmental Solutions Inc., the
area’s exclusive distributor of Magic Salt,
an ice- and snow-melting product manufactured
by Innovative Municipal United States, of Rome,
N. Y.
Stenger explained that Magic Salt
combines liquid magnesium chloride with distillery
soluble left as waste from the production of beer,
whiskey, vodka and rum. He added that the manufacturer
does not disclose the breweries from which the
waste product comes, but that the material from
only about four facilities worldwide seems to
work well.
Tanker trucks deliver 4,500-gallon
shipments of liquid to Environmental Solutions,
which then sprays it onto rock salt, Stenger said.
While the application to salt sometimes takes
place at the company’s Wyandotte Road facility,
it more often happens at a customer’s site,
or on large piles of salt stored at ports in Wilmington,
Morrisville or Camden.
Stenger maintained that Magic Salt
works “a lot quicker” than alternatives.
While all chlorides need contact with liquid in
order to melt ice, magnesium and calcium can draw
moisture from the air, and therefore can start
to work immediately, he said.
“I’ve taken a decent
amount of courses on ice-melt product,”
Stenger said. He added that he also had chemists’
reports explaining how Magic Salt works.
Stenger acknowledged that Magic
Salt is more expensive than untreated rock salt,
which currently costs $55 per ton. Treating the
salt with the liquid adds a cost of $26 per ton,
he said.
However, Stenger pointed out, using
the product can reduce the amount of rock salt
needed by as much as 50 percent. As temperatures
drop, he noted, rock salt tends to become less
efficient, so more has to be used. By contrast,
Stenger claimed Magic Salt works at temperatures
as low as minus 40 degrees. In recent years, temperatures
dropped noticeably during snowstorms, he added.
According to Stenger, Magic Salt
is “environmentally friendly, [and] safe
for pets.” He said the distillery waste
could also be used as cattle feed.
Stenger added that he first heard
of Magic Salt 10 years ago. As a snow removal
contractor, he recounted, he was “very interested
in the liquid,” but found that New York
was the closest place to get it.
Now, his company, which has six
full-time employees and several seasonal workers,
sells Magic Salt to customers in Philadelphia,
Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania,
Camden and Burlington counties in New Jersey,
and New Castle County in Delaware.
Municipalities and snow removal
contractors are usually the product’s end
users, Stenger said. However, he added, homeowners
periodically show up at Environmental Solutions
to buy bags of Magic Salt. Stenger explained that
small contractors and private schools also purchase
the bags, which are produced in Canada.
Stenger said his company is in discussions
with some retail stores about having them sell
Magic Salt, and is also working on providing the
product to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation
Authority and Philadelphia public schools.
Environmental Solutions also provides
services to suppress dust at locations such as
horse arenas, quarries and roads, and also is
a snow removal equipment dealer, Stenger added.
Content © 2005 The Willow
Grove Guide.
|
