Waterjetting for Asbestos Abatement by Lydia Frenzel, Ph.D.

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1 VIEWPOINT Figure 1 This sprayed-on asbestos is being cut and lifted by a water jet. Photo courtesy of Yankee Fiber Control. Waterjetting for Asbestos Abatement by Lydia Frenzel, Ph.D. Figure 2 The loosened asbestos falls off. Photo courtesy of Yankee Fiber Control. Figure 3 Asbestos coating removal from a vertical surface. Photo courtesy of Yankee Fiber Control. Figure 4 Asbestos coating being removed from silos. Photo courtesy of HydroChem Industrial Services. Asbestos-containing products appear in many forms. Indoors they may take the form of insulation on hot water piping or heating ducts, fireproofing, mastic, transite panels, or sealing compounds used with flue pipes. Asbestos may also be found in floor tiles, sheet flooring, popcorn ceiling, linoleum, texture coat, drywall, ceiling tiles, acoustical finishes, or as wall and attic insulation. Exterior uses include shingles, siding materials, and asbestos cement pipes. Until the 1970s, asbestos was specified extensively for building and industrial applications. Today, it is a widely known fact that human exposure to asbestos fibers can, over time, be hazardous if not lethal. For this reason, asbestos is rarely utilized in modern products and processes. Asbestos abatement and removal procedures must conform to strict regulatory guidelines due to the hazardous nature of airborne asbestos fibers. Rigorous safety measures have been enacted by municipal, state, and federal agencies and law makers to ensure that asbestos materials are removed without risk to human health and safety. The Scare Period During the time that the asbestos scare was going on, a contractor stripped asbestos in downtown San Francisco using ultra-high water pressure 44 July 2005 CleanerTimes

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3 equipment provided by Frank Moll at HydroChem. Articles about workers removing asbestos without adequate protection and consequently having health problems and exposing the public appeared daily. Yet this stripping was routine and without a lot of fuss. People went past the building without realizing what was happening. Air monitoring showed exposure below limits. Frank Moll s comments at the time included: We provide industrial cleaning services. We are not an 46 July 2005 CleanerTimes For information circle 66 asbestos abatement company or a hazardous waste management company. We work with the abatement companies. We monitor our people and procedures very carefully. A Business Opportunity? Cleaner Times ran an article, Asbestos Abatement: A Business Opportunity? in July I asked Frank Moll what he thought about the business opportunity now had the time come and passed where asbestos removal is a growing business? Asbestos abatement is highly competitive. Most jobs will not pay to have one more subcontractor who rents equipment. It gets difficult setting your company up for asbestos abatement unless you are committing to get into it full-time. Finally, it is very common for competitors to use low pressure ( psi) for removal and cleanup of sprayed-on insulation. He believes that the opportunity is for abatement contractors to start getting into the hydroblasting market rather than hydroblasters getting into the asbestos market. On the other hand, James Hutzler of Yankee Fiber Control in Rhode Island says asbestos removal is their specialty, and they have been doing it for about 21 years. Yankee Fiber was the first contractor in Rhode Island to receive a license. Hutzler emphasizes, Asbestos removal with pressurized water is not a job for the weak. Removing asbestos materials is a serious undertaking, and it is extremely tedious, requiring a methodical approach. Yankee Fiber uses diesel-powered HEPA-filtered vacuums to collect up to 18 tons of asbestos waste per hour. The jetting and collection process is performed in a fully-contained negative-pressure environment that releases no asbestos fibers into the outside air. Federal Regulations By law, you normally have to remove asbestos wet. But that means you literally can use a garden hose to keep the asbestos wet. If you don t know what you are doing, you can get into trouble quickly. Both OSHA and EPA requirements and regulations must be followed, as well as any state and local regulations. OSHA regulations require engineering controls for exposure. In CFR , OSHA regulates asbestos exposure in all work as defined in 29 CFR (b). OSHA 1926, Safety and Health Regulations for Construction also applies. EPA regulations cover the handling and disposal of hazardous materials.

4 Doing the Work Asbestos removal via pressurized water is especially effective where a layer of asbestos has been sprayed onto structural steel to protect it from the heat of a fire. Yankee Fiber started out using a psi power washer. They got a lot of asbestos off, but they found that the water spray tended to simply rearrange the asbestos. The result was a wet pulp of asbestos and water. They were using 5 gpm and couldn t handle the volume of water, so they went back to the manual ice scraper method. In the late 1980s, when people started to experiment with 10,000 psi water jets, Yankee Fiber began to use 10,000 psi cleaning, and it worked tremendously. Water jetting is about 10 times as efficient as manual methods. Currently, Yankee Fiber has gone to 36,000 40,000 psi waterjet cleaning. Ultra-high pressure waterjet cleaning yields even greater productivity because you don t have so much splatter and you have focused energy at low flows. (Figure 1) You don t have to control so much water, and the sprayed-on asbestos just falls off. (Figure 2) Pressurized water is also used to remove the mastic that holds vinyl tiles down, competing against a method that uses recyclable steel shot. Using the 40,000 psi floor machines, the mastic comes right up. There are also equipment configurations for cleaning walls. (Figures 3 and 4) When you get rid of the asbestos, you have to bag it up wet. Hence the reduction in waste when there is less water. You keep the asbestos wet all the way through. At 10,000 psi, Yankee Fiber had to control the wastewater because they had more water than they could handle. Using 40,000 psi waterjet cleaning at 2 gpm, they have to add water to the waste. Currently Yankee Fiber is decontaminating a nuclear power plant by removing the asbestos mastic from the foundation. The radiation is very low-level, but the amount of waste is critical. If they were to sandblast the foundation, they would end up with tons upon tons of a highly regulated waste. With water, Yankee Fiber can remove the asbestos with very, very little blast media (water), resulting in pollution prevention and waste reduction. Implications for Wannabes The typical pressure washer contractor should realize that there are several things going on. Historically the cleaning industries, and the paint industry, have not done a lot of training except as required by state and federal law. The use of a 40K machine is very sophisticated and requires good pump maintenance. A lot of the asbestos removal contractors are geared towards extensive use of labor where the labor force is not necessarily mechanically inclined. The guys can t just walk in and run the machine or use the guns. There are some very well trained asbestos removal personnel who, if given a 40K pressurized 2005 EXTRA!! 2005 EXTRA!! Cleaning Equipment Trade Association Myrtle Beach Braces for a Wave of Shucking & Chucking at PowerClean s Opening Reception on Sunday, October 9, 2005! Myrtle Beach, SC October 9 11, 2005 (Exhibit Days Oct ) Industry professionals from coastal areas around the world will put on the gloves and pick up the knife to determine the CETA PowerClean 2005 Oyster Shucking Champion. Industry professionals from land locked areas will compete in the chucking contest. Earlier in the day will be two other don t miss events to choose from, the Fifth Annual Golf Tournament or the Companion Tour of Charleston. Make plans now to join us for this once a year event Your competitors will be there! Call Today for Your Free Information Packet! Call Or [email protected] or [email protected] 7691 Central Avenue NE, Suite 201 Fridley, MN Toll Free: or Fax: [email protected] For information circle 117 CleanerTimes July

5 48 July 2005 CleanerTimes For information circle 224 Best by Test - Kränzle w w w. d i r t k i l l e r. c o m In tests by an independent laboratory, Kränzle electric pressure washers were ranked # 1 and # 2 Tests conducted by MET Laboratories. Tests included: Cleaning Cyclic endurance Ease of assembly Power consumption and input voltage Self-priming Ability to run-dry and in by-pass Dirt Killer Pressure Washers is an ISO 9001 certified company. For information circle 37 water gun, would be able to run it for maybe an hour at best. On the other hand, the pressure washer contractors are skilled in the use of equipment. However, when a contractor goes in and sees what is required to get an asbestos removal license, he is just knocked over by all the regulatory requirements. The opportunity lies in renting equipment with daily maintenance. How does HydroChem manage their health and safety programs over diverse types of jobs so that they can remove asbestos safely and efficiently, but not be a primary hazardous abatement contractor? They rent the equipment to a licensed abatement contractor and provide the maintenance. During each job, they conduct tailgate safety meetings to review the previous day s progress and to discuss the coming day s work so that employees are fully aware of their responsibilities and safety precautions. The Bottom Line Is there an opportunity for contract cleaners and high-pressure waterjet contractors to get into asbestos abatement? Definitely yes. As in all businesses, you need to know the ground rules. You must be willing to be methodical, and learn both the equipment and the regulatory sides. Both Hutzler and Moll agree that the opportunity is for the industrial service contractor to provide the machine to the abatement contractor and do daily on-site maintenance. Unless you plan to do asbestos abatement every day, you don t want to take on becoming a licensed abatement contractor with all the training and paperwork it entails. Lydia Frenzel, Ph.D. is executive director of the Advisory Council. She is an industry resource and works as a proactive advocate for emerging technology. She shares her knowledge and experience through custom courses, educational modules, and presentations. Photos courtesy of Lydia Frenzel. CT