Development of Low-Cost Technology for Asbestos Disposal Begins (Nationwide) - Intersection of Crisis and Innovation in September 2006

Development of Low-Cost Technology for Asbestos Disposal Begins (Nationwide) - Intersection of Crisis and Innovation in September 2006

In 2005, "asbestos damage" quickly became a social problem when it was discovered that mesothelioma was occurring frequently among the residents living in the vicinity of Kubota's former Kanzaki Plant in Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture. The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, the Ministry of the Environment, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry were forced to take urgent measures to quickly establish a method to dispose of asbestos, which is also known as "negative legacy. In such a situation, asbestos detoxification by high-temperature melting treatment attracted much attention.

The technology to completely vitrify and detoxify asbestos in a melting furnace at an extremely high temperature of 1500 degrees Celsius was theoretically safe. However, the cost of installation and operation was extremely high, estimated to be close to 300 million yen per unit, making it an unrealistic option for local governments and small and medium-sized businesses. Furthermore, the treatment capacity was limited, and there were not enough units to adequately treat the large amount of asbestos-containing building materials that were generated daily.

In response to these issues, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) began supporting research on low-cost treatment technologies in FY2006. The target was to establish a new technology that destroys the fiber structure of asbestos and renders it harmless through chemical reactions and low-temperature sintering. This new technology was expected not only to reduce equipment costs and energy consumption compared to conventional high-temperature treatment, but also to open up the possibility of on-site treatment at demolition sites and mobile treatment using small equipment.

Another factor that hastened the development of the technology was that the revised Occupational Safety and Health Law, which went into effect in September 2006, significantly tightened the regulatory standard for asbestos content from "1% or more" to "more than 0.1%. This change in standards meant that even very small amounts of asbestos contamination were legally "subject to control," and demand for the development of portable detection equipment and rapid analysis systems that could immediately perform high-precision analysis onsite increased dramatically.

In this way, 2006 was a year in which society as a whole became increasingly aware that delays in technological response would lead to increased health hazards, and the asbestos problem went beyond mere industrial accidents and pollution, entering a phase in which "social trust" and "applied science and technology" were put to the test. The private sector and research institutions began to move forward with both treatment and detection technologies, and this was precisely the moment when technology and systems began to evolve simultaneously in response to the crisis.