Effective surface treatment techniques for refinishing oil-stained road surface

Abstract

Oil spillage on pavement surface is a hazard for all road users as it causes road slipperiness. Although there are various applications of oil removers for cleanup of oil spillages, many of which would require time-consuming treatment, no research has been conducted to develop temporary and fast road resurfacing technique which can be completed within a short time (1–2 h). The objective of this research is to develop a fast-setting asphalt surface treatment to respond to oil spillages on roads so as to allow resumption of traffic movements, for up to 2 days before surface rejuvenation. A series of surface treatments were selected for experimentation based on the consideration of ease of application and effectiveness to satisfy the road performance requirements. A tack coat of CRS-2 asphalt emulsion with chip seal coating was applied to refinish the oil-spilled dense- and open-graded specimens. The oil types were diesel, hydraulic oil, engine oil, and cooking oil. A British pendulum skid resistance tester was used to measure the skid resistance of the treated surfaces. The results show that using a tack coat with chip seal (CRS-2) applications to refinish the oil-spilled road can be completed within 1–1½ h. With adequate skid resistance performance, chip seal (CRS-2) application is a promising method to refinish oil-spilled road for all types of oil. A tack coat (CRS-2) application may be an option for the practitioner to use as a surface treatment to remedy oil spillage on dense-graded specimens, while asphalt emulsion alone shall not work well for oil spillage on open-graded specimens. PosiTest (pull-off tester) was carried out to determine the pull-off tensile strength of the applied surface layers, i.e., chip seal from the pavement surface. The results show that chip seal treated specimen with pre-wash yields higher pull-off tensile strength than chip seal treated specimen without pre-wash.