Development a testing method for asbestos in melting treatment materials using TEM

Abstract

Melting treatment of asbestos wastes will be promoted as a matter of national policy, but a testing method for asbestos in melting treatment material is not available. Dispersion staining and X-ray diffraction method, which are applied to building materials, are difficult to apply to melting materials, because the former cannot detect very thin fibers and the latter has insufficient limit of quantitation (0.1 to 1%). Since transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can detect small and narrow fibers and identify asbestos by crystal structures and elemental compositions obtained by electron diffraction and energy dispersive X-ray analysis, it is very useful to determine asbestos fibers in melting treatment materials. Therefore, we propose and evaluate a testing method consisted of water elution of fibers from melting treatment materials and TEM determination.