Firm finds answer to problem asbestos

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 24

Firm finds answer to problem asbestos

NZPA staff correspondent London

A process of eliminating asbestos by making it into glass has been developed by a British firm which offers complete disposal of the toxic waste. Britain’s leading glass furnace manufacturer, King, Taudevin and Gregson (K.T.G.), of Sheffield, has announced the process of transforming asbestos into a ' harmless glass substance.

It is claimed as a breakthrough in safety by getting rid of asbestos, rather than just dumping it. Although hundreds of thousands of tonnes of asbestos in Britain is removed each year under increasingly strict safety regulations, it still remains a deadly material after it has been dumped. . Land used for disposal has to remain undisturbed to' avoid any potential health hazard of the material which causes the fatal disease of asbestosis.

K.T.G. says that its process is unlike disposal methods now being used,

which seal toxic wastes inside other materials.

“This is because it physically changes the asbestos to a glass structure to make it safe for all time even if it is broken or melted,” the company’s managing director, Stuart Johnson, said.

The new process, called vitrification, makes glass from asbestos by heating it in a furnace together with other materials to about 1400 deg. C. The firm began work on the process 18 months ago, after an intense campaign to make the public aware of the asbestos dangers and licensing regulations for its use where brought in. After carrying out a laboratory programme with the British Glass Industry Research Association to confirm that asbestos could be converted into glass the K.T.G. firm produced an electrically-run pilot plant to change asbestos by heating it with glass added from bottle banks, and an extra substance which remains the firm’s secret,

The cost of vitrification is comparable to that of dumping methods to make

it financially competitive, as well as environmentally safe, K.T.G. says. At present, because of regulations regarding the handling of asbestos wastes, it costs about £2OO to bag and dump each tonne. K.T.G. estimates that its “vitrifix” operations would be about the same cost, with the ability to transom up to 10 tonnes of every type of asbestos a day so that it cannot be reconstituted.

The process also reduces the volume of substance to be disposed of, ’ with the resultant black glass having about one fifth the density of the asbestos used.

Now K.T.G. is planning to operate as a service throughout Britain, and form joint ventures with companies abroad so that vitrifix furnaces can be used in other countries.

It sees the main demand for asbestos disposal coming from electric power stations, industrial waste and building demolitions. But it is also considering what the dense black -glass produced by asbestos conversion could be used for.

The amount of asbestos now being removed in Britain has increased considerably during recent years, according to the Department of Safety and Health.

In 1976 120,000 tonnes were dumped in designated areas around the country, before any dramatic increase in the “extraction rate” showed.

As well as more limited use of asbestos, regulations now prevent the import of any blue or brown asbestos, which are considered to be the worst types, as opposed to the white asbestos.

A spokesman for safety and health said more regulations are to be introduced later this year so that anyone working with asbestos will have to have a licence to do so.

Other regulations prohibiting the use of asbestos for spraying or insulation are also expected before the end of 1984. He did not believe use of asbestos generally, such as in asbestos cement form, would disappear in the foreseeable future.