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Tire wear particles induce a functional trade-off in bioretention systems: Coupled effects on nitrogen removal and greenhouse gas emissions
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Tiny bits of tire rubber that wash into roadside rain gardens (a common green infrastructure used to filter stormwater) can throw off the delicate microbial balance that normally removes nitrogen pollution from the water, making these systems less effective at cleaning runoff before it reaches rivers and streams. Interestingly, the same rubber particles also reduced greenhouse gas emissions from these systems, showing there's a trade-off — you can't fully win on water quality and climate benefits at the same time. As tire particles keep building up in urban environments, this research suggests we may need to redesign these green infrastructure systems to ke
Bioretention systems are widely adopted nature-based solutions (NbS) for mitigating urban stormwater pollution, yet their long-term functional stability is increasingly undermined by the accumulation of tire wear particles (TWPs). This study moves beyond descriptive performance assessment to investigate the underlying biogeochemical mechanisms governing the response of bioretention media to dynamic TWP stress (0, 1, 10, and 100 mgL). Our results reveal a sophisticated functional trade-off induced by TWPs: although nitrogen removal efficiency was significantly compromised-with NH-N and total nitrogen (TN) removal rates decreasing by up to 14.64% and 11.02%, respectively-the system's net global warming potential was concurrently mitigated, achieving a 7.41-61.26% reduction in CO-equivalent emissions. Mechanistically, partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) identified that TWPs trigger a metabolic bottleneck in the nitrogen cycle. The accumulation of TWPs significantly inhibited hydroxylamine oxidoreductase (HAO) and hydroxylamine reductase (HyR) activities (path coefficient: -0.742, p < 0.01) and suppressed the abundance of nitrifying bacteria (e.g., Nitrospira). Crucially, metagenomic insights demonstrated that TWPs redirected the nitrogen flux by upregulating the nrfA gene, thereby facilitating dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) as an alternative pathway. These findings demonstrate that high TWP levels impair nitrogen removal through multi-interface synergy, highlighting potential ecological risks. This study provides a novel predictive framework for managing emerging microplastic pollutants in green infrastructure, offering actionable insights for optimizing the multifunctional ecosystem services of urban NbS under anthropogenic stress.
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Effect of tire wear particle accumulation on nitrogen removal and greenhouse gases abatement in bioretention systems: Soil characteristics, microbial community, and functional genes
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This study found that tire wear particles, a major type of microplastic in road runoff, significantly reduced the ability of bioretention systems (rain garden-like structures) to remove nitrogen from stormwater. The tire particles changed the soil's microbial communities, reducing populations of bacteria that process nitrogen and altering greenhouse gas emissions. Since bioretention systems are widely used to treat urban stormwater before it enters waterways, this research shows that tire-derived microplastics can undermine water treatment efforts.
Effects of aged tire wear particles on nitrogen removal in constructed wetlands: Mechanistic insights into different aging pathways
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Tiny particles worn off tires wash into constructed wetlands—engineered systems that use plants and microbes to filter pollutants from water—and this study found they can weaken the wetland's ability to remove nitrogen, a common water pollutant. Whether the tire particles were broken down by sunlight or heat mattered: both types harmed helpful bacteria and stressed plants, but through different mechanisms, with sun-degraded particles causing more damage. This matters because if these widely used water treatment systems become less effective at removing nitrogen, it could allow more pollution to reach rivers and drinking water sources, highlighting a
Impact of Tire-Derived Microplastics on Microbiological Activity of Aerobic Granular Sludge
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This study examined how tire wear particle microplastics — a ubiquitous contaminant in urban stormwater — affect the bacteria responsible for removing nitrogen from wastewater in biological treatment reactors. At increasing tire particle concentrations, bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrate became more active, while bacteria that complete denitrification (converting nitrogen to harmless gas) were significantly suppressed. This imbalance could cause wastewater treatment plants to release more nitrogen into receiving waterways, potentially worsening nutrient pollution and algal blooms. The findings underscore a previously underappreciated way that tire microplastics can impair wastewater treatment infrastructure.
Influence of rubber particle inputs on nitrogen removal efficiency of bioretention systems
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Researchers investigated how varying concentrations of ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer (EPDM) rubber particles (0, 50, 100, and 400 mg/L) from tire and playground surfaces affect nitrogen removal performance in bioretention systems, finding that short-duration EPDM inputs during simulated rainfall events actually favored nitrogen removal by reducing total nitrogen effluent concentrations by 0.59-1.52 mg/L.
Bioswales as potential sinks for tyre wear particle pollution
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Researchers investigated the role of bioswale green infrastructure in capturing tyre wear particle microplastics from road runoff, presenting data from bioswales constructed in 2010 and quantifying their effectiveness as sinks for tyre-derived microplastic pollution.
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