Winterized Haul Truck Release Agent: Conquering the Cold and Sludge with Glide

At a glance

A release agent suitable for land application was required to stop waste pulp sludge from freezing to haul truck boxes. The current product, Calcium Chloride, was not effective, causing extra labor costs and cold exposure. Glide W RTU was developed and applied to the haul truck boxes to prevent sticking.

Key metrics

NO MORE

MANUAL SLUDGE REMOVAL

NO MORE

UNDUE COLD EXPOSURE FOR OPERATORS

REDUCED

LABOUR COSTS AND TIME

Why pulp sludge freezes to haul truck boxes in winter

Pulp mills produce waste sludge that is trucked away for land application. In cold weather, wet sludge freezes to the steel truck box. When the box is raised, some of the load stays stuck.

Someone then has to climb up and scrape it out by hand, in the cold. That adds labour and time to every load and exposes operators to cold conditions. The release agent also has to be safe for a load that ends up on farmland.

This customer was using calcium chloride as a release agent. It was not working well enough, and operators were still scraping boxes after dumping.

Challenges

Waste pulp sludge was freezing to this customer’s haul trucks in cold temperatures. Calcium chloride was being used as a release agent, but did not work effectively. Haul truck operators had to manually remove residual sludge after dumping. This exposed operators to cold temperatures and added extra labor costs and time.

Solutions

Our product team formulated a winterized release agent, Glide W RTU, to meet their needs. Application to the truck boxes ensured easy sludge removal without manual intervention. The release agent met the dump site requirements for land application.

Results

No More Manual Removal of Pulp Sludge

Operators no longer needed to scrape residual sludge from their haul trucks after dumping, saving time and labour costs.

No Undue Cold Exposure

Effective release meant that operators were no longer forced to endure cold temperatures to scrape residual sludge from their boxes.

Environment Obligations Met

The customer continues to meet its environmental obligations as the sludge is disposed of on farmland.

Data

In the before picture, calcium chloride was applied as a release agent. The waste pulp sludge is stuck and frozen to the box. The residue had to be manually removed.

The after picture shows a haul truck box treated with Glide W RTU. The waste pulp sludge effectively releases from the truck box eliminating the need for manual removal.

We also offer release agent chemistry for Paving and Road Maintenance.