From beloved West African cuisine to Canadian road salt, corrosion study opens new path
Chemistry professor Yolanda Hedberg and PhD pupil Robert Addai in Western’s Substance Science Addition lab. Credit score: Christopher Kindratsky/Western Communications

What does a classic West African dish have to do with road salt spread throughout snowy Canadian streets each and every winter?

The two subjects are equivalent passions for chemistry Ph.D. prospect Robert Addai, who is effective in Western’s Material Science Addition lab and scientific studies how metals corrode when they appear into make contact with with food stuff and road salts.

It all began with fufu, a popular staple in his diet program expanding up in Ghana. A starchy foodstuff that is widespread in West African delicacies, usually fufu is built by pounding cassava, a tropical root vegetable. That labor-intensive approach can choose hours.

The planning of fufu has developed, the very same way butter and other foods staples have develop into just about completely machine created. Most folks now use a metallic “fufu pounding device” that delivers the repetitive pounding action in a palms-absolutely free type, Addai discussed.

“It is a scrumptious foodstuff, but it usually takes a good deal of time. The equipment also is effective in the kind of friction, by pounding. My analysis is centered on no matter whether metals are introduced from the device into the fufu,” Addai stated.

Addai measures the chromium, iron, manganese and nickel present in samples of fufu, by screening a slurry of the food items in contact with samples of two forms of carefully cleaned stainless steel. After breaking it down in a digester, he analyzes the option for trace amounts of metals applying a specialised tool to quantify metal ions. Following reviewing preliminary outcomes, he found the best concentrations of iron followed by manganese, chromium and nickel.

Addai exams fufu made from powder, cassava flour, which is the most frequent planning for those people earning the meals in Canada, as effectively as some selfmade samples of conventional fufu produced by device.

His samples are tested after 30 minutes, 24 several hours and one week, given that fufu can be cooked for many lengths of time. The release of metals improves with time, Addai has discovered. In some samples, there are probably dangerous concentrations of nickel and chromium, which have been joined to probable health outcomes these kinds of as respiratory and cardiovascular challenges, as properly as some forms of cancer.

Wellbeing concerns originally sparked Addai’s interest. He required to know if the metals in contact with foods savored by his pals and loved ones were being playing a function in charges of ailment.

“There are a great deal of persons, not only in Ghana, but all more than the globe, specifically in the diaspora who are struggling from most cancers, coronary heart illness and other ailment. Scientifically, we you should not always know the bring about. So I preferred to review this (foods preparing) from the start to examine if some of the illnesses are coming from this foods,” he claimed.

There are other worries, also, these types of as the style of steel made use of to generate the fufu equipment.

“They use recycled elements, that can incorporate a whole lot of lead,” mentioned chemistry professor Yolanda Hedberg, Addai’s supervisor. She conducts comparable analysis tests for the prevalence of metals in dairy products.

Addai’s deep dive into fufu led him to equivalent investigate on steel corrosion in an surroundings far from a Ghanaian kitchen area: an icy Canadian highway.

Hedberg desired a researcher to get the job done on a new challenge in the Material Science Addition lab. Addai experienced the knowledge and the willingness to soar in, Hedberg mentioned.

In addition to investigating metals in make contact with with fufu, Addai is now wanting at diverse makes of street salt made use of for melting and grip on the roadways in Canada’s coldest months. In spite of straddling two seemingly disparate fields—from fufu to road salts—Addai conducts the identical form of main analysis in both equally jobs.

Previous winter season, Addai commenced functioning checks on the exact squares of stainless steel he used for his cassava analysis. This time, they have been laid out in a parking ton of Western Analysis Parks for a little pilot challenge. The metal was still left outside for two months and monitored as it was sprayed weekly with 9 different kinds of highway salt.

Addai will keep on that perform upcoming wintertime, alongside with other scientists, to seem at the environmental effects of popular types of highway salt, such as the sort employed by Western’s services administration crew.

“We hope to suggest the very best products, to harmony efficiency with environmental affect,” he explained.

Addai mentioned it can sometimes be wearisome to wait for the effects of his studies, many of which undergo many stages and phases. It takes time to attain the stage of last evaluation.

But challenges in examining the tiniest particles of fufu haven’t dimmed his enthusiasm for the subject—or the foods.

Addai is touring home to Ghana before long and said he are not able to hold out to appreciate the fufu produced by his liked kinds, in its place of the version he will make in Canada making use of cassava flour.

“I informed my family, have the fufu completely ready,” Addai explained with a giggle. “It really is the initial point I want to do. I overlook it so significantly.”

Offered by
College of Western Ontario


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From beloved West African delicacies to Canadian highway salt, corrosion analyze opens new route (2023, May 24)
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