21 June 1999

DOE's Federal Energy Technology Center and DOD's Pentagon Renovation Office to Test BOA Automated Asbestos Removal Robot

The Department of Energy's Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC) and the Department of Defense's Pentagon Renovation Office will jointly test Carnegie Mellon's BOA automated asbestos removal robot at the Pentagon starting July 6. A major renovation is currently underway at the Pentagon.

BOA was developed by researchers at the Robotics Institute for the DoE under the direction of principal systems scientist Hagen Schempf. The robot is said to be faster, cheaper and safer than the present "glovebag" technology used in asbestos removal. Using the glovebag system, abatement workers labor with their arms inside glovebags while wearing respirators and disposable suits. BOA automatically removes the asbestos insulation inside a cylinder with high-pressure water jets. It wets the insulation, cuts it into chunks and moves the removed insulation under a strong vacuum to a bagging operation. It encapsulates the pipe and then crawls down the pipe to continue the process.

There are an estimated 2 million feet of asbestos pipe insulation in DoE facilities that could be abated by the BOA technology. It is estimated that there are comparable amounts in defense facilities, including the Pentagon.

Schempf says his team will go to Washington June 28-29 to set up the equipment. They will test it on benign substances on July 6-7. The real test will take place July 8-9 and will be monitored by the National Institute of Buildings Sciences and the Operating Engineers National Hazmat Program. The pilot testing will include training an abatement crew from Radian International, a company that would operate and maintain this technology.

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