Cheese Brine Used To De-Ice Roads

Cheese Brine Used To De-Ice Roads Green County, Wis., has the best of both worlds with great Italian cheese and safer roads, thanks to leftover cheese brine. Not only does the cheese brine make road salt work better, but used by itself, it’s an anti-icer. “When we apply the cheese brine with its 22% salt solution with road salt, it activates the road salt faster,” says Chris Narveson, Green County Highway Commissioner. “When we apply it ahead of a winter storm, it seeps into the pavement surface and prevents snow, sleet and freezing rain from bonding and making the road icy or snow-packed.” The cheese brine comes from the Grande Cheese Company plant. The company produces 280 lbs. of Italian cheese per minute and a lot of brine. The cheese brine is a byproduct that would otherwise be mixed with other industrial waste and sprayed on farm fields. Green County used more than 100,000 gals. of the cheese brine this past winter, outstripping the supply. Narveson reports using an additional 100,000 gals. of regular salt brine. “Because of our use of cheese brine, our county has the lowest brine cost in the state and is the least user of salt,” says Narveson. “It’s amazing how much it saves us.” Green County has trucks especially equipped to apply brine with road salt or by itself as a pre-storm application. Other trucks can use brine with salt, but not by itself. The county also has two tankers that can spray the preventative. The cheese brine is well filtered to remove most organics before use. Narveson gives the remaining organics in the brine credit for its superior effect on the roads. “The cheese brine seems to adhere to the road better than regular salt brine,” he says. He explains that while a brine application costs as much as $4.20 per mile to apply, an application of rock salt would cost 10 times that. The three-hour job would cost the taxpayers $10,000 to $12,000. With the brine on the road, that cost is eliminated. “We’re a small county trying to save money and keep salt out of the environment as much as we can,” says Narveson. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chris Narveson, Highway Commissioner, Green County Highway Dept., P.O. Box 259, Monroe, Wis. 53566 (ph 608-328-9411; cnarveson@greencountywi.org).

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