S-Plan brine systems - Brine in use against slippery road surfaces
The initial situation
Road safety is of paramount importance for every road user. Especially in the cold winter months, when temperatures drop and the roads become slippery, this safety is at risk. This is where the winter road clearance service comes into play. Salt, grit or brine offer the winter road clearance service several options for combating slippery roads in winter. Brine is a salt-water solution that is also often used for relaxation pools in spas. The recommended salt content of brine for winter road maintenance is 22 percent, which is higher than in normal relaxation pools. When it comes to de-icing roads, brine performs better than the other agents. Firstly, brine acts directly and therefore accelerates the de-icing process, whereas salt first has to absorb moisture from the ambient air. Brine can be dosed much more finely and distributed better by spraying. Less salt is used for mixing brine, which reduces the running costs for winter road maintenance. The use of brine is also environmentally friendly, as the salt-water solution does not blow away and therefore leaves no residue on trees, meadows and fields. These aspects are just some of the many advantages of using brine in winter road maintenance. These are not new findings for the company S-Plan, which specializes in the construction of brine systems for winter road maintenance. Many cities, municipalities, cantons and the federal government have already decided to use brine for their winter road maintenance. Bern has also had a salt dissolving system from S-Plan since 2014, which is operated with pumps from SPECK.
The implementation
The salt dissolving system at the freeway maintenance depot is connected to the salt silo, which has a capacity of 900 cubic meters, via a brine flushing line. The desired brine concentration can be entered on the touch panel of the control system. The system produces brine fully automatically. Depending on the brine requirement, the production tank holds 3,000 to 10,000 liters and a dissolving capacity of 5,000 to 10,000 liters per hour is achieved. This means that 24,000 liters of brine can be produced per day. Two storage tanks, each with a storage volume of 55 cubic meters, are also filled with the brine directly from the production plant, also fully automatically. As soon as the winter service vehicles are loaded with brine, the system automatically produces more brine. The control system can record users and loading quantities as well as tank levels. These brine systems produce ready-to-use brine from salt and water within a very short time. Around 1000 cubic meters of brine are produced each year to de-ice the roads in the area and thus make them safer.
We chose the pumps from SPECK because they are corrosion-resistant and therefore permanently suitable for the salt water in our system. We were also impressed by their efficient operation, high pumping capacity and good price-performance ratio.<<
The technology
The screw conveyor transports salt from the salt silos into the dissolving hopper. There, the salt is mixed with brine. The salt then reaches the production tank, also known as the brine generator, where the ready-to-use brine is produced. In this way, larger distances between the silo and the brine plant can be bridged. Approximately 900 liters of water and 300 kilograms of salt are needed to produce 1000 liters of 26% brine. To produce the ready-to-use brine with 21 percent, another 280 liters of water are added. The system is operated with pumps from SPECK. Two BADU Resort 90 pumps serve as tank pumps and offer a loading capacity of 650 liters per minute. A BADU Prime 30 is used as a mixing pump and achieves a production capacity of 5000 liters per hour. The pumps are characterized by the glass-fibre reinforced plastic, which makes them particularly corrosion-resistant and durable. This makes them particularly suitable for the salt water in the brine system. They also impress with their high efficiency and pumping capacity.
S-Plan AG
S-Plan AG has been specializing in the planning and implementation of brine systems as well as the service and maintenance of these for over 20 years. During this time, around 200 systems have been realized. The Swiss company advances the technology of brine systems and develops flexible solutions. When building a brine system, S-Plan takes care of all the steps from planning and implementation to the provision of an operational system.
