Chemical elimination of asbestos materials

Abstract

Asbestos was a frequently used material in the past, mainly in the construction industry, on account of its excellent thermal and chemical resistance. Nowadays, all uses, handling and disposal of asbestos materials are subject to strict legislation due to health hazard. This work is a research of an efficient chemical way to decompose these materials with the lowest energy costs possible so that the method could compete with patented thermal decomposition and other currently common methods. Decompositions were performed at room temperature with acids, namely hydrochloric, sulfuric, phosphoric, acetic and oxalic acid and the results were evaluated based on mass analysis. Asbestos rope and asbestos-cement roof tile were used as samples. From the experiments carried out, the best decomposing agent was hydrochloric acid for the rope sample and acid mixture (hydrochloric and acetic acid in a 1:1 ratio). for the roof tile sample.