Abcov Process - ABCOV METHOD

Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday 9 am to 5 pm

Abcov Process - ABCOV METHOD

Photos Were Taken at the ABCOV® Training, Demonstration, and Testing Pilot Facility

Photo 1: A view into the negative air containment that houses the ABCOV® conversion system equipment. In the containment are a 50- gallon (189.271 liters) reactor; to the right are the piggy-backed negative air machines equipped with HEPA filters backed by activated carbon charcoal filters. The negative air machines pull six to eight air changes per hour of makeup air through the containment and across the top of the shredder, holding vessel, engineered cement mixer, and asbestos conversion reactor. The ABCOV® process, unlike thermal asbestos destruction processes, does not require a complicated scrubber system.

The photo was taken through a double Plexiglas window outside the negative-air containment. Double Plexiglas windows are compulsory for all windows facing the negative-air plant operating rooms.

The reactor, for demonstration purposes, is left open for the viewer to observe the ABCOV®-C and asbestos-containing material fed into it. Also, to follow the ABCOV chemical renewal process, i.e., add one or two or a combination of the following: ABCOV® Chemicals: ABCOV®-A, ABCOV®-R, ABCOV®-O, and ABCOV®- R1 to ABCOV® C, and to observe the sample taking that tracks the asbestos destruction.

Photo 2: The electrical panel powers the ABCOV® conversion system equipment.

The top left of the electrical panel provides power to the reactor, pump, neutralizing blender, size reduction shredder, air compressor, settling vessel, peripheral debris wash system, and lighting.

Below the top left electrical panel is the main power shut-off switch. The shut-off switch closes down all equipment except the negative air machines, which should always be on an independent electrical circuit to keep residual asbestos in the negative-air containment from escaping the containment in emergencies or during lockout-tag-out repairs.

To the far right of the electrical panel is the inverter that adjusts the speed of the reactor.

The top center is a clock used to time the sample taking.

The amp meter connects the reactor to the inverter.

Photo 3: The white communications board, to the right, is used to communicate with the plant operators: to inform them of the type or types of asbestos and the percentage of the type or types of asbestos and the binder/matrix in the asbestos-containing material they are converting to a non-asbestos material.

The board reports the amount of asbestos converted in the mix every 15 minutes and answers any questions the plant operators may have. In the left background is the non- asbestos converted solids neutralizing mixer.

Photo 4: Samples are taken from the reactor every 15 minutes and passed through the red flagged portal to the laboratory for Polarized Light Microscopy reading by the laboratory technician. The laboratory technician will track and verify the progression of asbestos destruction through the process, see photos 18, 19, and 20 below that show the stages of asbestos destruction. To the left is the entrance to the clean room, the shower, and the equipment negative-air containment.

Photo 5: The entrance to the clean room, followed by the entrance through the shower and then into the ABCOV® asbestos conversion plant.

Photo 6: The exit from the plant into the dirty or tool room through the shower to the clean room exit.

Photo 7: The chemical makeup room where the required ABCOV®-C formulas are formulated and blended.

The blender is a 30-gallon (113.562-liters) vessel that formulates ABCOV® C.

Photo 8: The ABCOV®-C chemical used in the pilot plant is fed into the reactor by hand from 5-gallon containers (18.9271-liters) for demonstration purposes for the viewer, i.e., a potential licensee.

Photo 9: The ABCOV® Chemicals A and R1 are used to renew ABCOV®-C when and if needed through the process; the white communications board used by the plant operators to communicate with the laboratory technician, paper towels, and test bottle storage bin, and a garbage bag for paper towel disposal.

The garbage bag can be washed asbestos free through the wash system, and the paper towels can be put through the reactor or wash system, leaving no asbestos waste.

Photo 10: Two 5-gallon buckets (18.9271 liters each), ABCOV®-R and ABCOV®-O chemicals used to renew ABCOV®-C, if needed.

The asbestos-converted solids settle out in a settling vessel, and the ABCOV®-C siphoned off for reuse, 10 to 20% ±, depending on the starting matrix/binder of asbestos-containing material. The siphoned ABCOV® C, renewed, if necessary.

The two 2-liter containers measure and weigh the ABCOV®-R and O chemicals when needed for renewal of ABCOV® C.

Photo 11: A scale used to weigh ABCOV®-R and ABCOV®-O for renewal of ABCOV®-C through the process.

Photo 12: A ladder and small gray bins to feed and capture asbestos-containing material through the shredder. Once shredded to a desirable size, the asbestos-containing material feeds into the primary reactor.

Once opened, the double-bagged asbestos-containing material is thoroughly wet with water to ensure that the asbestos-containing material safely loads into the bins.

Once the asbestos-containing material is in the bins, it is wetted again and kept wet while fed through the shredder.

Photo 13: The front of the shredder with a hose hanging off the hopper keeps the asbestos-containing material wet before shredding and while fed through the shredder. The hose should reach all aspects of the plant to clean the equipment at the end of a shift.

The water used to clean the equipment feeds back into the formulation of ABCOV®-C; therefore, there is zero liquid discharge.

The shredder control panel is to the right and is equipped with a safety shut-off switch and a forward and reverse shredder operational switch.

Photo 14: A sample is taken from the reactor and poured into a testing cup; the testing cup; is capped, washed, and dried to be passed through the testing portal from the pilot plant side, which is pulling negative-air back into the pilot plant so no asbestos can escape into the clean area.

Photo 15: A sample testing jar is covered, washed, and dried, then passed through the testing portal from the pilot plant side to the laboratory.

Photo 16: Once collected on the clean side of the pass-through portal, the asbestos sample is taken into the laboratory to be read by a Polarized Light Microscope (PLM) to determine the matrix/binder and amount or amounts of asbestos type or types: Serpentine or Amphibole or a combination of both, and determine the percentage of asbestos destroyed through the process, to verification until no asbestos detected.

Photo 17: On-site Polarized Light Microscope is used to read samples through the process until no asbestos is detected.

Photos 18, 19, and 20: are photos of PLM readings taken through the process of asbestos destruction by the percentage of asbestos destroyed until there is no asbestos detected.

Photo 21: Is the 100-gallon (378.541 liters) settling vessel.

Once the non-asbestos settles, the remaining ABCOV® C, siphoned off, should be renewed, then put back into the conversion reactor, providing a chemical cost saving and zero discharge.

Photo 22: Once the solids have settled and the used ABCOV® C can siphon off, the settled non-asbestos is pumped into a cement mixer, neutralized, and released for recycling.