| abstract |
Process for treating an asbestos containing material, comprising treating the material with exhausted milk whey so as to obtain a liquid phase and a solid phase containing the asbestos and subjecting the solid phase containing the asbestos to a hydrothermal process. The asbestos containing material is thus subjected to the action not of a common acidic chemical reagent, but rather of an acidic industrial waste product, i.e. milk whey, preferably exhausted milk whey, which, besides creating an acidic environment, contributes bacterial components believed to favour an attack on the material itself. After said treatment, which releases the asbestos fibres from the matrix in which they are englobed, the asbestos is then "inertized" by means of a high-temperature, high-pressure hydrothermal process. |