Efficiency of sorbents used to restore the grip of the surface of the oily road

The Main School of Fire Service, Faculty of Fire Safety Engineering, 52/54 Slowackiego St., 01-629 Warsaw, Poland

^* Corresponding author: dgancarczyk@sgsp.edu.pl

Abstract

The use of sorbents is one of the methods most commonly used by the fire departments to remove spilled hydrocarbon liquids. Sorbents approved for use by fire brigades must meet the requirements of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, this requirement does not include the assessment of the degree of roughness of the road surface after removal of oily spills. The high degree of restoration of road surface grip is extremely important for the safety of road users. The article presents the results of research on the effectiveness of restoring the coefficient of friction by different sorbents. The tests were carried out for three different asphalt pavements, determining the coefficients of friction for dry, wet and oily surfaces and after applying sorbents. Static friction coefficients were determined by measuring the angle of the inclination of the tested surface specimen, at which the probe imitating the car tire slid. It turned out that none of the used sorbents fully restored the initial coefficient of friction on the asphalt surface. The use of professional sorbents allowed for the restoration of about 80% of the initial coefficient of friction of the dry surface. Significantly poorer results were obtained for the most commonly used sorptive replacement materials, i.e. sand or sawdust.