Unlocking the potential of biopolymer soil stabilisation

The global soil stabilisation market is forecast to grow to $35 billion by 2027 driven primarily by infrastructure and construction activities and exacerbated by the increasingly urgent need to adapt to climate change, flood risk and sea-level rise.  Cement and lime are widely used to stabilise soil, but suffer from significant carbon and energy costs.  Naturally sourced biopolymers are a promising low carbon ‘green’ substitute, achieving higher strength in stabilised soils than cement and at similar cost. However, widespread uptake of biopolymers is impeded by the fact that they suffer from (a) poor water resistance and (b) poor resistance to biodegradation over time. 

To address these limitations, this EPSRC funded project aims to investigate novel biopolymer treatment processes which have been designed from the molecular level up and which can be applied at the soil/biopolymer mixing stage. These innovations have the scope to provide water and biodegradation resistance through the addition of only small volumes of natural materials and if successfully demonstrated have the potential to transform the soil stabilisation market.