Sustainable management of hazardous asbestos-containing materials: Containment, stabilization and inertization

Shiv Bolan; Leela Kempton; Timothy McCarthy; Hasintha Wijesekara; Udara Piyathilake; Tahereh Jasemizad; Lokesh P Padhye; Tao Zhang; Jörg Rinklebe; Hailong Wang; M B Kirkham; Kadambot H M Siddique; Nanthi Bolan

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163456

Sustainable management of hazardous asbestos-containing materials: Containment, stabilization and inertization

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 10:881:163456. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163456. Epub 2023 Apr 14.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network, Australia.
² Sustainable Buildings Research Centre (SBRC), University of Wollongong, Australia.
³ Department of Natural Resources, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Sabaragamuwa University, Belihuloya 70140, Sri Lanka.
⁴ National Institute of Fundamental Studies (NIFS), Kandy, Sri Lanka.
⁵ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand.
⁶ Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of Ministry of Education, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, People's Republic of China.
⁷ University of Wuppertal, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Institute of Foundation Engineering, Water- and Waste-Management, Laboratory of Soil- and Groundwater-Management, Pauluskirchstraße 7, 42285 Wuppertal, Germany.
⁸ Biochar Engineering Technology Research Center of Guangdong Province, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Foshan University, Foshan, Guangdong 528000, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311300, People's Republic of China.
⁹ Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
¹⁰ School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
¹¹ School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network, Australia. Electronic address: Nanthi.Bolan@uwa.edu.au.

PMID: 37062308
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163456

Abstract

Asbestos is a group of six major silicate minerals that belong to the serpentine and amphibole families, and include chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, anthophyllite, tremolite and actinolite. Weathering and human disturbance of asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) can lead to the emission of asbestos dust, and the inhalation of respirable asbestos fibrous dust can lead to 'mesothelioma' cancer and other diseases, including the progressive lung disease called 'asbestosis'. There is a considerable legacy of in-situ ACMs in the built environment, and it is not practically or economically possible to safely remove ACMs from the built environment. The aim of the review is to examine the three approaches used for the sustainable management of hazardous ACMs in the built environment: containment, stabilization, and inertization or destruction. Most of the asbestos remaining in the built environment can be contained in a physically secured form so that it does not present a significant health risk of emitting toxic airborne fibres. In settings where safe removal is not practically feasible, stabilization and encapsulation can provide a promising solution, especially in areas where ACMs are exposed to weathering or disturbance. Complete destruction and inertization of asbestos can be achieved by thermal decomposition using plasma and microwave radiation. Bioremediation and chemical treatment (e.g., ultrasound with oxalic acid) have been found to be effective in the inertization of ACMs. Technologies that achieve complete destruction of ACMs are found to be attractive because the treated products can be recycled or safely disposed of in landfills.

Keywords: Asbestos detoxification; Asbestos dispersal; Asbestos stabilization; Asbestos toxicity; Asbestosis; Mesothelioma.

Publication types

Review