A major breakthrough has occurred in asbestos disposal: a patented, non-thermal, chemical-physical, Federal Environmental Protection Agency approved process, capable of destroying all forms of asbestos on site, as it is being abated, known as the ABCOV® Method, is now commercially available.
Developed over a number of years, first in the laboratory at Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, and Georgia Technical Institute, Atlanta, Georgia, and subsequently in the field, has brought this technology to its full commercial deployment capability.
The ABCOV® process employs the use of 3 chemical formulations:
- ABCOV-T: is a superior wetting agent that will increase the removal time of white-magnesium pipe covering, boiler block and spray-on fireproofing by 40%, providing 40% labor savings and leaving an asbestos-free substrate that will not require an encapsulate.
- ABCOV-C: is used to convert the asbestos to a non-toxic material.
- ABCOV-W: is a neutralizing agent
The process incorporates commercially-available and reliable equipment, which can be rented on a job by job basis or owned, is built modular and transportable or fixed base and is easily scalable to meet the customer’s needs.
For the past 25 years mandated regulations from all government levels continue to enforce the abatement of asbestos containing material (ACM), with bagging, tagging (identifying the owner) and the only option, storage, not disposal, of the ACM in a landfill,. Under superfund regulations the owner is responsible for the ACM stored in the landfill through perpetuity.
The use of the ABCOV® process provides the owner with the following environmental
- Elimination of cradle to grave liability
- Waste reduction to a non-asbestos material of 50% ±
- Elimination of transporting ACM through neighborhoods and over highways
- ACM containing RCRA metals can be treated, at a substantial cost savings, producing a final end-product that will pass the Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and the paint test, allowing the end product to be sent to an unregulated landfill.
- Radioactive ACM has been successfully treated at nuclear waste sites, resulting in the destruction of asbestos, as well as a considerable end product volume reduction
As long as there is asbestos in the built environment, the dilemma of sending ACM to a landfill for storage to be dealt with by future generations, and the never ending exposure to asbestos that causes asbestos related diseases, asbestosis and mesothelioma, will be with us long into the future.
The availability of the ABCOV® process eliminates asbestos once and for all, providing a cleaner and healthier environment.