Chrysotile asbestos migration in air from contaminated water: An experimental simulation

In Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) rich areas, water flows through asbestos bearing rocks and soils and generates waterborne fibres that may migrate in air and become a risk for humans. Research on the migration and dispersion after water vaporisation has been so far only marginally evaluated. Th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hazardous materials 2022-02, Vol.424 (Pt C), p.127528-127528, Article 127528
Main Authors: Avataneo, Chiara, Petriglieri, Jasmine R., Capella, Silvana, Tomatis, Maura, Luiso, Mariagrazia, Marangoni, Giuliana, Lazzari, Elisa, Tinazzi, Silvio, Lasagna, Manuela, De Luca, Domenico A., Bergamini, Massimo, Belluso, Elena, Turci, Francesco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asbestos
Asbestos, Serpentine
Balangero
Environmental fate
Humans
Italy
Migration
Naturally occurring asbestos
Occupational Exposure - analysis
Simulation test
Water
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Summary:In Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) rich areas, water flows through asbestos bearing rocks and soils and generates waterborne fibres that may migrate in air and become a risk for humans. Research on the migration and dispersion after water vaporisation has been so far only marginally evaluated. This study investigates the migration in air of asbestos from a set of suspensions contaminated by chrysotile from Balangero (Italy), under controlled laboratory conditions. We evaluated i) the morphological modifications that might occur to chrysotile during migration from water to air, and ii) the amount of airborne chrysotile mobilised from standardised suspensions. Morphological alteration of asbestos fibres occurred during water-air migration and impacted on the analytical response of electron microscopy. Waterborne asbestos concentration higher than 40 ∙ 106 f/L generates in air concentration higher than 1 fibre per litre [f/L], the alarm threshold limit set by World Health Organization for airborne asbestos. A possible correlation between the waterborne fibre concentration as mass or number of fibres per volume unit [μg/L or f/L] was observed. [Display omitted] •A device is created to simulate and quantify water-to-air migration of asbestos.•Waterborne chrysotile asbestos migrates in air following turbulent motion of water.•A chrysotile waterborne concentration of 40·106 f/L generates > 1 f/L in air.
ISSN:0304-3894
1873-3336
DOI:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127528