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Concentrations of tire wear microplastics and other traffic-derived non-exhaust particles in the road environment

Environment International 2022 153 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 50 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Ida Järlskog, Ida Järlskog, Ida Järlskog, Ida Järlskog, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Ida Järlskog, Ida Järlskog, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, Mats Gustafsson, Mats Gustafsson, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ida Järlskog, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Mats Gustafsson, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, Mats Gustafsson, Juanita Rausch, Juanita Rausch, Juanita Rausch, Mats Gustafsson, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, Juanita Rausch, Juanita Rausch, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Juanita Rausch, Mats Gustafsson, Mats Gustafsson, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Mats Gustafsson, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Ida Järlskog, Ida Järlskog, Ida Järlskog, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Mats Gustafsson, Mats Gustafsson, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Mats Gustafsson, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Mats Gustafsson, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Juanita Rausch, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Mats Gustafsson, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Juanita Rausch, Mats Gustafsson, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, Mats Gustafsson, Juanita Rausch, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Juanita Rausch, David Jaramillo‐Vogel, Ann‐Margret Strömvall, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld Ida Järlskog, Mats Gustafsson, Yvonne Andersson‐Sköld

Summary

Researchers measured actual environmental concentrations of tire wear microplastics and other traffic-derived non-exhaust particles in a rural highway setting, providing field-based data to complement the theoretical estimates that dominate current literature.

Polymers

rubber

Study Type Environmental

Tire wear particles (TWP) are assumed to be one of the major sources of microplastic pollution to the environment. However, many of the previously published studies are based on theoretical estimations rather than field measurements. To increase the knowledge regarding actual environmental concentrations, samples were collected and analyzed from different matrices in a rural highway environment to characterize and quantify TWP and other traffic-derived non-exhaust particles. The sampled matrices included road dust (from kerb and in-between wheeltracks), runoff (water and sediment), and air. In addition, airborne deposition was determined in a transect with increasing distance from the road. Two sieved size fractions (2-20 µm and 20-125 µm) were analyzed by automated Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) single particle analysis and classified with a machine learning algorithm into the following subclasses: TWP, bitumen wear particles (BiWP), road markings, reflecting glass beads, metals, minerals, and biogenic/organic particles. The relative particle number concentrations (%) showed that the runoff contained the highest proportion of TWP (up to 38 %). The share of TWP in kerb samples tended to be higher than BiWP. However, a seasonal increase of BiWP was observed in coarse (20-125 µm) kerb samples during winter, most likely reflecting studded tire use. The concentration of the particle subclasses within airborne PM decreases with increasing distance from the road, evidencing road traffic as the main emission source. The results confirm that road dust and the surrounding environment contain traffic-derived microplastics in both size fractions. The finer fraction (2-20 µm) dominated (by mass, volume, and number) in all sample matrices. These particles have a high potential to be transported in water and air far away from the source and can contribute to the inhalable particle fraction (PM) in air. This highlights the importance of including also finer particle fractions in future investigations.

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