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UEL student develops a lot of use for chip fat

Monday 20 July 2009

Product Design students from L to R: Dale Glen, Jenard Dyer, Brandy Wright, Naresh Chandra, Victor To, Man Luong, Damien Barthelemy

A University of East London (UEL) PhD student has come up with a novel way to help hold roads together using chip fat.

Helen Bailey, 25 is studying for a PhD in engineering at UEL and is also a research manager at Aggregate Industries based in Bardon Hill in Leicestershire. She has developed a way of using waste vegetable oil instead of bitumen – a byproduct of crude oil - to help make asphalt road surfaces.

The discovery could significantly reduce the carbon footprint made by building roads and pavements as the asphalt industry produces about 25 million tonnes every year, requiring about 1.25 million tonnes of bitumen.

Aggregate Industries now want to patent the invention to use across the country. The company are hoping the chip-fat method will significantly reduce the environmental and economic cost currently involved in the bitumen process.

Helen said: "I was delighted to find that the waste fat produced by cooking one of the nation's favourite dishes can be used to hold together our roads. I wanted to find an alternative with the same key properties as bitumen in the asphalt mix, using a waste product readily available within the UK. The solution I developed complies with UK Standards for asphalt and reduces the carbon footprint in resultant products.”

Helen was awarded the Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award 2009 by The Worshipful Company of Engineers for the asphalt discovery. She plans to use the prize money to fund an educational trip to Japan.

Darryl Newport, Director of the Sustainability Research Institute at UEL said: “We have a longstanding working relationship with Aggregate Industries and Helen has become an important member of our research team. We are delighted that she has won this award and we wish her every success.”

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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