THE INFLUENCE OF CONVENTIONAL AND LOW-PRESSURE HEAT TREATMENT ON THE COURSE OF CHRYSOTILE ASBESTOS DECOMPOSITION

Recycling of chrysotile asbestos materials is a global problem. Even though the materials containing asbestos have good properties like resistance to elevated temperatures, high elasticity and mechanical strength, or abrasion resistance, it has been proven to be carcinogenic and banned in over 70 countries. Standard disposal of asbestos products - storing them in appropriately designated areas (landfills) - is a risk-taking method due to the possibility of secondary pollution of the surrounding environment and the waste of natural resources. One of the popular methods of neutralisation asbestos fibres is their thermal treatment. This study aimed to investigate the effect of thermal treatment in the range 25-1000�C in conventional parameters and under reduced pressure of -0.1 and -0.5 bar on the dehydroxylation process of chrysotile. The thermal decomposition course of chrysotile studied by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetric measurements (TG-DTG) showed the possibility of using low pressure to increase the efficiency of the thermal treatment process.