Precursor Materials Containing Asbestos Characterization and Monitoring for Asbestos Dust Impact Prevention

The problem related to dust generation and control represents one of the key issues during the processing of granular systems. Airborne dust monitoring thus represents a key issue both in terms of dust particles size class distribution and, very often also of their composition. This latter aspect is of great relevance for many materials, but it assumes a dramatic importance when we deal with powder containing asbestos, as resulting from primary raw materials exploitation, processing and/or dismantling actions, and further handling, of End-Of-Life (EOL) civil and/or industrial structures where this material is present.

Asbestos, in fact, was widely used in many applications for its unique technical properties, especially those related to heat and corrosive chemicals resistance. A material containing asbestos is potentially hazardous only in a “friable state”, that is when milled or reduced to powder. According to some recent estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), about 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos at the work place, more than 100.000 people die every year from asbestos-related cancers, whereof several thousand deaths can be ascribed to asbestos exposure at home.

In this work, the possibility to implement fast, low cost and reliable strategies addressed to recognize the presence of asbestos inside particles characterized by different matrices, is investigated. This approach is carried out following “a prevention logic”, finalized to the utilization an innovative sensing technique based on hyperspectral imaging (HSI). HSI could represent an important step forward in setting up procedures to prevent an “uncontrolled” diffusion of the asbestos in the environment due to the lack of knowledge of the “real” composition of a product, that has to be removed, demolished or handled in some way.