Asbestos has been used worldwide in a large number of products throughout the 1970 s and 1980s. After the proven influence of asbestos materials on diseases that could have a fatal outcome was confirmed, bans on the use and production of these materials began. However, there are still significant quantities of asbestos waste and materials in the environment and there is a need for safe and permanent solution. As a support to sustainable development by minimizing waste production and harmful emissions as well as by reducing the consumption of natural resources, the circular economy (CE) is recognized in the EU as a leading solution. The main meaning of CE in waste management field is to turning waste into a resource. Considering above-mentioned, this paper presents how to resolve a problem of asbestos waste that is currently and will continue to be present. Instead of occupying the space, which is also a valuable resource, with landfills that also raise cost, asbestos can be used in construction material industry. Paper presents estimated amounts of asbestos waste, proposal for appropriate waste collection, treatment and market placing of a new product in Serbia. The conclusion of the paper is that the presented model of circular economy for asbestos in Serbia is feasible, in this way it would be possible to achieve some incomes from material selling and, also, releasing some space. In addition, for the implementation of this model of asbestos management, it is necessary to have Government involvement through investment in infrastructure and improvement of legislation.
Managing asbestos streams in developing and transition countries is particularly challenging. Deficiencies are often present for adequate procedures for the management of asbestos waste; solid quality data or databases on the quantities of asbestos production and usage are missing and asbestos inventories or the registry of asbestos-related diseases following European Union (EU) or other regulations are not in place. This paper aims to develop a model for determining and assessing the quantity of asbestos in the built environment of a transition country. Quantities of asbestos products and life expectancy of those products were assessed to develop a model that forecasts flows and stocks of asbestos products and wastes. The overall objective is to evaluate the model and show the manifestation of asbestos in the waste stream in a case study on a country with a transition economy, such as Serbia. Results show that total quantities of asbestos fibre consumption are approximately 0.5 million tonnes; the largest amount of waste generation is expected in the 2020s. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare for the forthcoming quantities of waste by improving legal procedures, implementation of existing regulations, and provision of economic resources. An important link for the adequate management of asbestos waste is to raise public awareness of the dangers and importance of proper and timely disposal of asbestos products.
The determination of the amount of residual carbon in biomass ash is important not only for the assessment of the efficiency of biomass fuel combustion but also as one of the criteria for the estimation of biomass ash potential use. In this paper carbon content in biomass ash was analysed by applying two methods: total organic carbon analysis (TOC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in an inert (N2) and oxidizing (O2) atmosphere. The amount of inorganic (carbonate) carbon can be directly calculated from the TGA curve and the obtained results are in a good agreement with the ones obtained using TOC analyser. On the other hand, the quantitative determination of organic and elemental carbon by TGA is not straight-forward since the temperature range of their oxidation overlaps with dehydration temperature of portlandite that is a constituent of biomass ash. It can be concluded that a basic version of the thermogravimetric analyzer can be used for the determination of inorganic carbon in ash samples, but for total organic carbon determination, it is recommended to use hyphenated techniques, for example, TGA-MS or TGA-FTIR that allows quantitation of evolved gases (CO2 and H2O).
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