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Determination of Tire Wear Particle-Type Polymers by Combination of Quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Soxhlet Extraction
Summary
Researchers developed a method combining quantitative NMR spectroscopy with Soxhlet extraction to identify and quantify tire wear particle polymers including natural rubber, styrene-butadiene copolymer, ethylene-propylene copolymer, and polybutadiene. Limits of quantification ranged from 3 to 43 µg per sample with recovery rates of 72-92%, offering an alternative to IR and Raman spectroscopy which are impaired by tire additives and fillers.
Tire wear particles (TWP) are among the most relevant sources of microplastic pollution of the environment. Nevertheless, common analytical methods like IR- and Raman spectroscopy are highly impaired by additives and filler materials, leaving only thermo-gravimetric methods for chemical analysis of TWP in most cases. We herein present quantitative NMR spectroscopy (qNMR) as an alternative tool for the quantification of the polymeric material used for the production of tires including natural rubber (NR), styrene-butadiene-copolymer (SBR), polyethylene-polypropylene-copolymer (EPR) and polybutadiene (BR). Limits of quantification between 3 µg and 43 µg per sample and recovery rates of 72-92% are achieved for all tested polymer types. The first results of combining these measurements with Soxhlet extraction as a sample preparation tool are presented alongside the qNMR experiments.