Too Salty to Sustain: Rethinking Salt Through Beet Juice Molasses

I chose this project because it addresses a growing environmental problem while exploring a relevant and timely topic. Traditional road salt is known as a forever contaminant that harms the ecosystems, contaminates drinking water, and corrodes infrastructure. This project allows me to investigate the balance between public safety and environmental health. Salt is highly corrosive and toxic to aquatic life, damages vegetation, and causes long-term problems like polluting drinking water, killing plants, and accelerating the destruction of roads/vehicles. If a safer alternative is not found, the consequences could be severe such as permanent degradation of freshwater ecosystems, major infrastructure damage and higher public safety costs. In cold climates like my own this causes real risks to both the environment and human health.

I was able to perform this experiment by calculating 3 - 700 ml solutions of water, beet juice, and molasses. I sat all 3 - 700 ml solutions outside for 11-12 hours in different glass pans. My first trial contained 522 ml of water, 118 ml of beet juice, and 60 ml of molasses. This ratio was effective but had room for improvement, it was sat outside in a pan at -23, snow laying on top acting as an insulator causing the solution to turn icy on the bottom but slush on top. Trial 2 contained 450 ml of water, 177 ml of beet juice, and 73.9 ml of molasses. This ratio was quite effective but could be better, it was sat outside in -23 with snow on top with a softer more watery slush then trial 1. My final trial contained 138.1 ml of water, 473.18 ml of beet juice and 88.72 ml of molasses. This trial contained the most beet juice and molasses, it was also poured onto a sheet of ice the was placed outside at -27. This trial was close to being successful as it melted enough ice for it to sneak to the bottom of the pan and melt from underneath. Unfortunately the solution froze into a solid ice as it couldn't quite handle the coldness of the environment around it.

Beet juice remains unfrozen at temperatures as low as -30 the reason being it's natural sugars and Trimethylglycine. Trimethylglycine also known as TMG lowers the temp by acting as a cryoprotectant helping maintain the integrity and fluidness of cellular membranes. TMG prevents any of the denaturation of proteins and enzymes, allowing metabolic activity to continue even in cold temperatures. TMG also helps activate antioxidant enzymes that combat the free energy generated during cold stress and reduces damage. Natural sugars are doing something similar to TMG. As the TMG combines with natural sugars it forms liquid-maintaining systems at low temperatures which enhances the cold resistance. Like TMG, it uses a protective reaction called osmoprotection, in which soluble sugars accumulate under stress to protect cellular structure and function. Molasses is like beet juice but it's a sticky substance that helps keep products on the road. What makes molasses sticky is because of the highly concentrated syrup of sugars like sucrose, glucose, fructose, and other non-sugar compounds left after sugars crystals are removed from boiled sugarcane or even beet juice. The high sugar concentration allows strong polar interactions, including hydrogen bonding which makes it tacky and highly viscous.

These results are important because if this method is successful, it demonstrates that I have developed a fully eco-friendly pretreatment for de-icing that can replace traditional road salt. This is significant because salt use has been linked to environmental damage including soil degradation, freshwater contamination, and harm to plants and wildlife. By providing an effective alternative this pretreatment could help protect ecosystems and preserve biodiversity while also reducing the amount of harmful chemicals entering out water systems. About any environmental benefits this eco-friendly pretreatments is important for human health. It reduces salt runoff meaning cleaner drinking water and less exposure to corrosive residues that can affect communities living near treated roads. Unlike salt which accelerates corrosion this alternative has the potential to significantly decrease damage to roads, bridges, vehicles, and other infrastructures. This would extend the lifespan of public infrastructures and improve overall safety. So finding a fully eco-friendly pretreatment is important because it offers a sustainable, long-term solution that balances winter road safety with environmental protection, public health, and economic savings.

I would like to keep investigating the effectiveness of the eco-friendly pre-treatment under a wider range of real-world conditions. I will examine how temperatures affects it's de-icing performance, including extremely low temperatures where traditional road salt is typically used. Additionally, the pre-treatments cost, environmental impact, and time required to become effective could be compared to conventional salt-based de-icers. To evaluate ecological benefits, plant growth and soil health could be analyzed after exposure to the pre-treatment and compared to areas treated with salt. These extensions would help determine whether this eco-friendly pre-treatment is a viable, sustainable alternative for large-scale de-icing applications.

I would like to thank my science teacher Mrs. Metherell for helping me figure out what materials I should use and giving her time towards mine and other students projects, this project wouldn't be what it is without her. I would also like to thank Tannis and Derek Axten who provided me molasses to use in my eco-friendly pretreatment I couldn't have made this solution without them. Finally, I would like to thank my family for helping me with my experiments, they helped me make many improvements I may not have thought of without them. I would also like the thank them for driving all the way to the city to pick me up some more materials for my project and also for taking me to the regional science fair.

Images

Kruzman, D. (2022, March 23). Road salt is imperiling US waterways. States might have a solution. Grist. https://grist.org/cities/road-salt-is-imperiling-us-waterways-states-might-have-a-solution/

Pngtree. (n.d.). Eco friendly logo PNG images.https://pngtree.com/so/eco-friendly-logo

Bomgaars. (n.d.). Four Seasons 58140 A/C compressor.https://www.bomgaars.com/oi-58140.html

US Foods CHEF’STORE. (n.d.). Molasses, blackstrap PLST jug.https://www.chefstore.com/p/molasses-blackstrap-plst-jug_7070006/

Webpages

Science Insights. (2025, November 10). Why doesn’t beet juice freeze like water?https://scienceinsights.org/why-doesnt-beet-juice-freeze-like-water/

Yang, B. Y., & Montgomery, R. (2006). Alkaline treatment of biomass for enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis.Bioresource Technology, 98(6), 1123–1127. Alkaline degradation of invert sugar from molasses - ScienceDirect

Xweather. (2025, April 4). It’s time to talk road salt alternatives.https://www.xweather.com/blog/horizon-road-salt-alternatives

Abbas, T., Lavadiya, D. N., & Kiran, R. (2021). Exploring the use of polyols, corn, and beet juice for decreasing the freezing point of brine solution for deicing of pavements.Sustainability, 13(11), 5765. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115765

WSB. (2025, February 27). Innovative deicing solutions: The benefits of using beet juice for city roads.https://www.wsbeng.com/innovative-deicing-solutions-the-benefits-of-using-beet-juice-for-city-roads-2/