Sunflower oil, the Masterchef cure for potholes
IT HAS spawned dubious gastronomic creations such as toasted rice icecream, sweet potato chocolate mousse and even crocodile ballantine.
But now Masterchef has inspired a recipe that could make everyone’s life run a little more smoothly ... a method for preventing potholes.
Dr Alvarao Garcia, an engineering lecturer at Nottingham University, was watching the Spanish version of the series when he hit upon the idea of using sunflower oil to repair roads.
He saw a contestant using the “spherification” technique, or controlled jellification of a liquid into spheres, which can then be suspended or used as a caviar.
Dr Garcia realised if similar capsules of oil were placed in asphalt, they would burst as the road started to crack, softening the surface and allowing it to knit back together. It would essentially allow roads to be self-healing.
Dr Garcia said: “Our preliminary results showed that the capsules can resist the mixing and compaction processes without significantly reducing the physical and mechanical properties of asphalt and they also increased its durability.
“More importantly, we found that the cracked asphalt samples were restored to their full strength, two days after the sunflower oil was released.”
Dr Garcia has named his invention Capheal and believes it could increase the lifespan of a road by at least a third, from 12 to 16 years.
According to the Asphalt Industry Alliance, 1.7 million potholes have needed to be filled in the last 12 months. It is estimated that the sunflower bubbles could reduce the costs for major road repairs by £260million per year.
The research team is near the end of the initial stage of the project with the successful completion of laboratory tests and trials.
Highways England, which is funding the project, will test Capheal on selected sections of a road during planned overnight maintenance work. This will be followed by a monitoring period of about 12 to 24 months to determine Capheal’s level of durability and endurance.
Dr Garcia added: “We needed a different way to create self-healing roads – without the use of an external aid, so I decided to design capsules containing oil that can break by themselves when the mechanical loading on a carriageway caused it to crack.”
Robin Griffiths, Highways England’s senior pavements adviser, said: “We know road users want good quality surfaces, with fewer potholes and not as many roadworks disrupting their journey. This self-healing technology could give them that and offer real value for money.”