Bricks and ‘asbscrete’ building blocks from asbestos-cement factory wastes

Abstract

Batches of waste material from an asbestos-cement factory were reclaimed and reconstituted into a homogeneous slurry such that the asbestos fibres could be separated from the granular solids by wet sieving. After drying both the fibres and the solids to 3% moisture content it was found that the waste material contained about 12% recoverable asbestos fibres. The proximate analysis of specimens of both fractions suggested possible utilization as bricks for thermal insulation. Subsequently, it was possible to compact wet mixes of the solids, with small amounts of cement as binder, to bricks of various sizes and shapes which could be used as linings for ovens or low temperature furnaces. With some admixtures of river sand and a binder, it was also possible to compact the in situ wastes into ‘hollow’ and ‘solid’ building blocks of 225 x 225 x 450 mm which were termed ‘Asbescrete’ Building Blocks.