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Comprehensive approach to national tire wear emissions: Challenges and implications
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Researchers developed a comprehensive approach to estimate national tire wear emissions, which are a major source of microplastics in the environment. They found that increasing vehicle weight due to electrification trends and growing traffic volumes are driving higher emissions, while no regulations currently exist for tire wear. The study provides methods needed for tracking changes in tire-related microplastic pollution and supporting future environmental impact assessments.
The use of vehicle tires has been identified as a major source of microplastics in the environment and an increasing source of urban particulate air pollution. In light of increasing traffic volumes, increasingly heavier and more powerful vehicles due to trends and electrification, and the lack of tire wear regulation, methods to estimate and monitor changes in national emissions are needed as input for environmental impact assessments. Emission estimations of tire wear are made either based on the mileage approach or the sales approach. This study aims to investigate if and how the mileage approach can be improved by using emission factors for passenger cars and LDVs based on our own measurements and emission factors from the literature for HDVs and buses. An approach with emission factor adjustments based on weight and number of tires in combination with highly detailed mileage data has been evaluated. Sales approach calculations have been used to validate the method. A secondary aim was to use the new mileage approach framework to calculate the national tire wear emissions for Sweden. These calculations resulted in slightly lower total emissions than previous estimations provide, but with higher emissions for passenger cars and light-duty vehicles, and lower emissions for heavy-duty vehicles and motorcycles. Passenger cars constitute more than half of the total emissions. It is concluded that even though the framework offers greater detail, thus increasing the possibilities to adjust for changes in emission factors and mileages in specific vehicle categories, the challenges posed by such factors as the lack of measured emission factors for heavy-duty vehicles and uncertainties regarding the quality of mileage statistics makes the estimations uncertain. Important future suggestions for research include establishing reliable emission factors, especially for heavy-duty vehicles, and initiating research to better understand how climate, road networks, surface properties, and vehicle fleet characteristics affect emission factors.
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This review provides an overview of tire road and wear particles as a major source of microplastic emissions, examining both experimental and mathematical approaches to measuring tire wear. The study notes that while tire wear particles are found in alarming amounts across various environments, they remain less studied than other microplastics, and calls for more accurate simulation models to predict tire wear emissions.
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