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Car and Truck Tire Wear Particles in Environmental Samples –A Comparison With “Traditional” Microplastic Mass Loads
Summary
Researchers developed a method to identify and quantify tire wear particles in environmental samples alongside traditional microplastics using pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. They found that tire wear particles represent a substantial fraction of total microplastic mass in environmental samples and should be included in standard microplastic monitoring.
Summary Tire wear particles (TWP) are assumed to be the most dominant source of microplastics (MP). In environmental samples TWP particles occur as heteroaggregates with road material and particles. Combined with their variable composition both points lead to the fact that reliable determination methods for TWP are rare. Therefore, identification and quantification of TWP was implemented in an existing pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) method for MP determination. The resulting TWP mass loads were compared to “traditional” MP shares. The latter included polymers such as PE, PP, PS, PET and PVC. The widely held belief of TWP being the most dominant source of MP applies to sites in direct vicinity to TWP sources, only. An increasing distance to these sources leads to a decrease in TWP concentration in respective environmental samples. This points to a low long-distance transport potential of TWP compared to “traditional” MP which occurred ubiquitous.