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Analysis of Tire Wear Airstrip Particles (TWAP)
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Researchers analyzed tire wear particles collected from airport runways to determine whether they could be reused as secondary raw materials in a circular economy rather than incinerated. The particles were compared to ambient rubber powder and evaluated for reuse potential.
Abstract Every aircraft leaves tire wear particles on the ground of airports at take-off and landing. To maintain good grip properties, the pavement must be regularly cleaned up. The gathered Tire Wear Airstrip Particles (TWAP) normally get disposed by burning. As they are similar to rubber powder the question is if they might be used as a secondary raw material to keep them longer in the circular economy. In this study gathered TWAP of the runway of an airport in Germany are compared to ambient ground rubber powder from truck tire treads. Both are analyzed microscopically with regard to their morphology, particle size distribution and chemical composition by calcination with following elemental characterization of the ash by Energy-Dispersion-X-ray Analysis (EDS) in the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The particle size distribution of TWAP is broader than rubber powder containing also much smaller particles. The mineral content is about 60% of the gathered TWAP. These minerals can be residues of the pavement or break wear and to a smaller amount from the rubber ingredients. Although TWAP on their own are similar to rubber powder, the impurities they contain may have an impact with regard to potential applications.
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