Perma-Zyme is an eco-friendly enzyme soil stabilizer that’s powerful enough to handle even the toughest projects in the renewable and heavy industries. It permanently binds soil particles into a hard, concrete-like surface that resists erosion, reduces dust, and supports heavyweight traffic for safer, more productive jobsites. And since it lasts for years with little to no maintenance, customers save thousands of dollars annually.
Together, we’ll explore how renewable and heavy industries use Perma-Zyme to reduce maintenance, save money, and improve their jobsites. We will cover:
Let’s begin!
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 can decrease dust for up to two years with no chloride treatments.
Perma-Zyme will stabilize soil in these areas even longer. Typical results for unpaved surfaces last 10+ years. Firebreaks will remain free of vegetation, since treated soil is too compacted for plants to grow. Access roads will be water-resistant, so you won’t have to combat mud, ruts, potholes, or 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 with a one-time application that stabilizes access roads for 10+ years with little to no 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 improves worker safety with clearer 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 up to 13 times, 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.
On average, customers can save up to 80% on road construction. Annual maintenance costs can drop as low as $0 because Perma-Zyme treated roads resist erosion, water, and wear-and-tear. Best of all, you’ll enjoy these savings year after year:
In addition to road construction, Perma-Zyme is ideal for a host 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 low-maintenance soil stabilizer that lasts as long as possible to create a strong base that can support the weight of the drilling rig and allow maintenance access later.
That’s why our oil drilling customers trust Perma-Zyme. Crowheart Energy treated nearly eight acres of drilling pads during construction. They applied Perma-Zyme to the areas around their drilling rigs, where heavy equipment would drive, and even where their office trailers sat. With Perma-Zyme, they can expect low- to no-maintenance soil stabilization for up to five years around their drilling rigs and 10+ years around their office trailers. That saves them far more time, labor, and money than doing maintenance every few weeks.
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, we’ve found that heavy industries see the most success with a deeper application that prevents dozer tracks, forklift wheels, and other heavy equipment from grinding through a thinner layer of soil.
You can also apply a gravel or chipseal topcoat to extend the project’s lifespan, improve traction, and further reduce dust. Most customers find that the decreased yearly maintenance costs will more than offset the upfront cost of adding a topcoat.
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, reducing dust for up to two years with no chlorides. 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 up to 13 times, making it an ideal solution for treating personnel parking areas, office trailer pads, and generator pads. One application can last up to five years under heavy traffic and 10+ years under light vehicles with minimal maintenance—saving you thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours.
Finally, you can use Perma-Zyme as a secondary lining in tailings ponds. For instance, if a geomembrane liner rips, Perma-Zyme’s water-resistant surface can help prevent severe leaks until you’re able to repair the liner. It can also help stabilize earthen dams and embankments.
Caution: Do not use Perma-Zyme in subsurface mines, as it may not cure properly due to low temperatures and possible moisture. Follow all regulations and use proper equipment for dust control in these areas.
Traditional utilities depend on Perma-Zyme for soil stabilization and dust control on access roads. The powerful enzyme formula stabilizes new construction sites with one application. For temporary worksites, simply use a motor grader to break up the Perma-Zyme once you’re finished, and it will biodegrade on its own. For permanent access roads, you’ll enjoy 10+ years of soil stabilization and up to two years of dust suppression.
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 cause significant soil movement. Its impermeability helps protect vital lines from water exposure should their protective exteriors fail.
Additionally, you can use Perma-Zyme to line landfills and prevent liquid waste from seeping into the environment. That said, we do recommend using Perma-Zyme as a secondary containment system in case your primary system fails. Perma-Zyme alone is not rated to contain toxic waste long-term, but it can help prevent environmental mishaps while you repair or replace another containment system.
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. Most clients find that it pays for itself within one year because it reduces or eliminates many of their maintenance tasks, such as graveling and grading their jobsites. With its long-lasting results, those savings continue year after year. So, when you bid on projects, you can show a clear, long-term, positive impact on your client’s bottom line.
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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