Recycling and recovering asbestos is now possible with De Dietrich

De Dietrich Process Systems, world leader in the supply of equipment, complete systems and process solutions for the pharmaceutical, chemical and fine chemical industries, as well as plant chemistry, has developed in Consortium with the company Neutraval, also based in Alsace, a unique and innovative process for treating asbestos waste: the De Dietrich Waste Recycling (DDWR) solution.

After several months of construction, the De Dietrich Waste Recycling pilot unit based on an industrial wasteland in Talange in Moselle, is coming to an end and will soon be ready to process its first waste. Supported by ADEME and the Grand Est Region, the construction work will be completed at the end of 2022. Initially, the pilot will treat inert waste for a first phase of tests. This will then be followed by the treatment of different types of asbestos waste with the aim of optimizing this new process as much as possible and characterizing in more detail the samples of co-products which will emerge inert.

This new process, which was previously validated in the laboratory, is internationally patented and consists of attacking free and bound asbestos waste by a physico-chemical route under controlled experimental conditions. This acid-base attack destroys the structure of the asbestos and ultimately makes it possible to extract it but also to recover various co-products: magnesium, gypsum and anhydrite. These co-products can be resold in various applications such as in construction, cement works, aeronautics but also the automobile with the aim of creating a circular economy around this project and to engage in the ecological transition.

Ultimately, the objective is to develop industrial units capable of processing 15 tonnes of asbestos waste per year, both nationally and in Europe.

Before the development of this innovative solution, only burial and vitrification by plasma torch were authorized, although neither of these two alternatives was satisfactory in many respects. The evolution of the Anti-waste law for a circular economy (AGEC) has enabled De Dietrich and its partners to seize this development opportunity in order to offer an alternative thanks to a new efficient process, respectful of the environment and surrounding populations, while guaranteeing the safety of operators. De Dietrich Waste Recycling was therefore right to believe in this new sector which makes it possible to move from a logic of landfilling and vitrification to a logic of industrial recovery while responding positively to a global public health problem.