Perma-Zyme is an eco-friendly soil stabilizer that’s powerful enough to handle even the toughest projects. It binds soil particles into a hard, concrete-like surface that resists erosion, reduces dust, and supports heavyweight traffic with less maintenance. We’ll explore how Perma-Zyme reduces maintenance, saves money, and improves productivity for:
With renewable industries growing rapidly, our customers are turning to Perma-Zyme for sustainable soil stabilization. We’ll focus on two of the fastest growing and largest industries: solar and wind.
Solar is the world’s fastest growing renewable industry, with more than 25% increase in production from 2021 to 2022.1 However, that production would be higher if it wasn’t for dust. Dust accumulation decreases panels’ productivity by an average of 7% in the U.S. and up to 76% around the world.2,3
Dust can scratch panel surfaces and overheat vital equipment, such as inverters and lithium-ion batteries. Serious cases of overheating have caused fires, prompting states like Florida, Texas, and New York to require solar farms to build firebreaks or train first responders on solar equipment fires and safety.
Perma-Zyme lowers fire risks and improves energy production by binding soil particles together, preventing them from escaping into the air as dust. Treating access roads, equipment pads, and firebreaks one time decreases dust longer than traditional treatments. Some customers have reported dust control lasting two, three, or even four years on unpaved roads.
Perma-Zyme also strengthens soil up to 10 times to create a hard, low-maintenance surface. Firebreaks will remain free of vegetation, since treated soil is too compacted for plants to grow. Access roads will resist water to reduce mud, ruts, potholes, and other erosion. You can also use Perma-Zyme to stabilize equipment pads for inverters, transformers, and batteries, so components are less likely to break due to shifting or settling soil.
Wind energy was the second-largest renewable industry in 2022, behind hydropower, and it grew 14% over the previous year.4 But as you know, the costs of maintaining turbines and wind farms themselves at least twice a year add up. Wind farms’ remote locations, unpaved access roads, and vulnerability to severe weather make maintenance difficult. Workers may struggle to reach the turbines on rutted, muddy roads. And road conditions are worst after severe weather—when turbines are most likely to need emergency maintenance.
Gravel, grading, and traditional soil stabilizers like chlorides can help, but they require time-consuming, pricey reapplications every few weeks. Perma-Zyme eliminates that hassle. A one-time application stabilizes access roads so they last longer with less maintenance—no potholes, no ruts, and no grading. You can even use Perma-Zyme to lock in a gravel topcoat, so you won’t lose material and your crews will have better traction when traveling to the turbines.
Like solar farms, wind farms benefit from dust suppression. Dust scratches turbine blades and roughens their surfaces, impeding their aerodynamics and thus decreasing productivity. (How much of a decrease depends on factors like the turbine type, setup, wind speed, and type of dust.) Treating unpaved access roads and equipment pads with Perma-Zyme keeps dust out of the air and off the blades. Even better, it keeps worker safe with better visibility and air quality.
Finally, you can use Perma-Zyme to stabilize other areas around the wind farm, such as constructing sturdy equipment pads underneath transformers.
Heavy trucks and equipment can severely damage untreated soil, leading to erosion and dust that create safety issues on the jobsite. Let’s explore how Perma-Zyme helps companies in construction, oil and gas, mining, and utilities.
Construction companies worldwide use Perma-Zyme. Road construction is by far its most popular application, especially in rural areas. Perma-Zyme strengthens soil over 10times, helping unpaved roads stand up to heavy industrial traffic. Perma-Zyme also turns native soil into a strong, durable subbase for paved roads. This eliminates the need for over excavation and material hauling while permitting a thinner subbase and topcoat.
With Perma-Zyme, you can save up to 80% on road construction. Annual maintenance costs decrease dramatically because Perma-Zyme treated roads resist erosion, water, and dust. Customers in Michigan reported saving an average of $5,800 miles per year on unpaved road maintenance.
In addition to roads, Perma-Zyme is ideal for a variety of projects, such as stabilizing slopes, embankments, and earthen dams. Our customers have used it to build parking lots, equipment pads, and storage pads for shipping containers. Other options include recreational facilities, including RV pads, hiking and biking trails, playgrounds, golf courses, zoos, horseback riding arenas, and lakes and ponds.
Caution: Do not use Perma-Zyme to stabilize building foundations. Perma-Zyme soil stabilization is designed to support the weight of traffic and earthen structures. For buildings, follow the recommendations and regulations in your area.
Oil and gas fields can last up to 30 years, so you’ll need a lasting soil stabilizer to support the weight of the drilling rig with minimal maintenance. That’s why our oil drilling customers trust Perma-Zyme.
Crowheart Energy treated nearly eight acres of drilling pads and even where their office trailers sat. Another oil and gas customer used Perma-Zyme to restore an oilfield pad to working order. Before, the area was so muddy that they had to use a D6 bull dozer to drag trucks to and from their storage tanks—a distance of over 100 yards. Now, with Perma-Zyme, their trucks can drive directly to the tanks, and the bull dozer is free for other projects.
Oil and gas companies can help Perma-Zyme reach its full lifespan by treating soil to a depth of nine to 12 inches. While a standard application for normal car and pickup truck traffic uses a six-inch depth, a deeper application helps support dozer tracks, forklift wheels, and other heavy equipment. You can also apply an aggregate or chipseal topcoat to improve traction and further reduce dust.
Mining roads handle nonstop traffic from all types of vehicles—pickup trucks, haul trucks, dozers, wheel loaders, and more. All that traffic creates loads of fugitive dust on the mine site. And access roads are often the biggest culprits, since they’re most likely to go untreated.
Treating mine access roads with Perma-Zyme creates a hard, concrete-like surface that locks in soil particles to reduce dust. So, you can use Perma-Zyme to reduce fugitive dust on mining roads and help you:
Perma-Zyme is almost totally impermeable so it prevents ruts, potholes, washboarding, and other erosion. It also strengthens soil over 10 times, making it an ideal solution for treating personnel parking areas, office trailer pads, and generator pads. One application can last for years—saving you thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours.
Caution: Do not use Perma-Zyme in subsurface mines, as low temperatures and moisture may prevent it from curing properly. Follow all regulations and use proper equipment for dust control in these areas.
Traditional utilities use Perma-Zyme to stabilize soil and suppress dust on access roads. The enzyme solution binds soil into a hard, concrete-like surface that resists water and erosion. So, you save time and money on maintenance. It even works for temporary worksites: when you’re done, simply use a motor grader to break up the Perma-Zyme once you’re finished, and it will biodegrade on its own.
Perma-Zyme also stabilizes soil around underground utility lines to keep it from shifting and damaging pipes or cables—especially during freeze-thaw cycles that can significantly shift soil. And since it resists water, it helps protect vital lines from exposure should their protective exteriors fail.
We’d be remiss if we left out contractors and engineers. You’re often the ones who plan and build all of the crucial renewable and heavy industrial infrastructure we’ve talked about so far. And you need a product you can trust to achieve your clients’ goals on a variety of projects.
Our customers who are contractors and engineers trust Perma-Zyme because it’s effective, and it provides a good return on investment. Many clients find that it pays for itself within one year by reducing or eliminating tasks like hauling, graveling, and grading. And results typically last for years, you can show your clients a clear, long-term benefit to their bottom line whenever you bid on projects.
Installing Perma-Zyme is a straightforward, one-time process. Many of our customers can treat at least half a mile of two-lane road in one day, and with experience, they may increase that amount. Since Perma-Zyme uses native soil from the jobsite, you won’t have to over excavate or export material. That expedites construction to help you stay on schedule and on budget.
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