Products for treating asbestos

摘要

Treatment solutions for removing asbestos containing materials from substrates and for converting asbestos-containing materials to a non-asbestos material, which comprises an aqueous solution containing about 1 to 25% by weight of an acid and 1 to 10% by weight of a source of fluoride ions, such as ammonium fluoride. The acid solution hydrolyses the magnesium oxide units in asbestos while the fluoride ions attack the interleaved silica layers in the crystal structure of asbestos, thereby destroying the fibrous nature of the asbestos.