Papers

61,005 results
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Review Tier 2

Microplastics from tyre and road wear A literature review

This literature review examines microplastics generated from tire and road wear, identifying road traffic as a significant but often overlooked source of plastic pollution in urban runoff and waterways. The authors assess what is known about tire particle composition, environmental fate, and potential ecological effects.

2020 KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) 32 citations
Article Tier 2

Identification, classification and quantification of microplastics in road dust and stormwater

Researchers identified and quantified microplastics in road dust and stormwater, finding significantly higher concentrations in industrial areas compared to residential zones, with tire wear particles and polyethylene fragments being the most common types.

2022 Chemosphere 80 citations
Article Tier 2

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

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.

2022 Environment International 153 citations
Article Tier 2

Realistic evaluation of tire wear particle emissions and their driving factors on different road types

This study measured tire wear particle (TWP) emissions under realistic driving conditions on different road types and identified the key driving factors affecting emission rates. Tire wear particles are a major category of microplastic pollution in road runoff, and this data is needed to estimate their contribution to environmental contamination.

2023
Article Tier 2

Characteristics of Vehicle Tire and Road Wear Particles’ Size Distribution and Influencing Factors Examined via Laboratory Test

Researchers conducted laboratory tests to characterize the size distribution of tire and road wear particles under various conditions. The study found that factors such as driving speed, tire composition, and road surface characteristics significantly influence the size and quantity of wear particles released, which are a growing source of microplastic pollution.

2024 Atmosphere 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Relevance of tyre wear particles to the total content of microplastics transported by runoff in a high-imperviousness and intense vehicle traffic urban area.

Researchers characterized microplastics and tire wear particles (TWPs) transported by urban stormwater runoff in a highly impervious catchment, finding that TWPs made up a substantial fraction of the total microplastic load in sediments of a stormwater detention reservoir. The study underscores the contribution of road traffic to microplastic pollution entering waterways.

2022 Environmental Pollution 47 citations
Article Tier 2

What is known and unknown concerning microplastics from tyre wear?

This review synthesizes current knowledge on tyre wear particles (TWPs) as a major source of road-traffic microplastics, covering how particle generation, transport pathways, and environmental fate depend on tyre composition, road characteristics, and weather. A key finding is that while TWPs can be identified in environmental samples, quantifying them precisely remains difficult and expensive—a gap that must be closed to accurately assess human and ecological exposure.

2023 Road Materials and Pavement Design 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic and tyre wear particles at a highway: a case study from Norway

Researchers monitored microplastics and tire wear particles (tiny rubber fragments shed by vehicles) in air, road runoff, and road dust along a busy Norwegian highway, finding the highest concentrations in road dust and the lowest in air. The study demonstrates that traffic is a major source of microplastic pollution across multiple environmental pathways.

2025 Microplastics and Nanoplastics
Article Tier 2

On airborne tire wear particles along roads with different traffic characteristics using passive sampling and optical microscopy, single particle SEM/EDX, and µ-ATR-FTIR analyses

Researchers used passive sampling and advanced analytical techniques including SEM/EDX and micro-ATR-FTIR to characterize airborne tire wear particles along roads with different traffic volumes and speeds. The study found that tire wear particles, a major category of microplastic pollution, varied in concentration and composition depending on traffic characteristics, highlighting roadways as a significant source of airborne microplastic contamination.

2022 Frontiers in Environmental Science 43 citations
Article Tier 2

Tyre wear particles: an abundant yet widely unreported microplastic?

Researchers collected tire wear particles from roadside drains and natural environments near a major UK road, finding that these particles are abundant and widespread yet frequently undetected in environmental monitoring, suggesting tyre wear is a major but under-reported microplastic source.

2020 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 317 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of Airborne Microplastics Particles on Urban Roads: Types, Sizes, and Total Particles

Researchers collected airborne microplastic samples from urban road environments and characterized particle types, sizes, color distributions, and polymer compositions, finding tire-wear rubber and paint fragments alongside fiber and film fragments from packaging and textiles.

2025 JURNAL KESEHATAN LINGKUNGAN
Article Tier 2

Environmental occurrence, fate, impact, and potential solution of tire microplastics: Similarities and differences with tire wear particles

This review examines tire microplastics, one of the most abundant types of microplastics in the environment, which come from tire wear on roads, recycled tire rubber, and tire repair dust. These particles carry a complex mix of chemicals including heavy metals and organic pollutants that can harm aquatic and soil organisms. Since tire microplastics end up in waterways and soil near roads, they represent a significant but often overlooked source of human microplastic exposure.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 259 citations
Article Tier 2

The influence of road vehicle tyre wear on microplastics in a high-traffic university for sustainable transportation

Researchers examined microplastic pollution from tire wear in a high-traffic university environment. The study found that microplastic concentrations correlated with traffic patterns, peaking on weekdays and declining on weekends, with irregularly shaped black particles composed primarily of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polybutadiene dominating the samples, along with metal contaminants concentrated near the main entrance.

2024 Environmental Pollution 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Comparison of traffic-related micro- and nanoplastic concentrations at three urban locations

Researchers measured airborne tire and road wear particles (microplastics shed from vehicle tires) at a busy urban road, a highway, and a park, finding rubber particle concentrations were 2-5 times higher near traffic compared to the park, with levels closely tracking other traffic pollutants like black carbon.

2025 Atmospheric Environment 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Mitigation of Suspendable Road Dust in a Subpolar, Oceanic Climate

Tire and road wear particles (TRWP), a major source of microplastics in waterways, are especially abundant in cold climates where studded tires are common. This study assessed road dust generation and found that traffic volume and road surface conditions are key drivers of TRWP pollution.

2021 Sustainability 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Analytical Investigation of Tire Induced Particle Emissions

This automotive engineering study measured the size distribution of fine dust particles (under 10 micrometers) generated by tire wear, finding that tire-derived particles represent a significant non-exhaust source of urban particulate matter. As electric vehicle adoption reduces exhaust emissions, tire and brake wear particles will become a proportionally larger component of urban air pollution. These tire wear particles are also a major source of microplastic contamination in road runoff.

2021 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Pollution from Transport: Detection of Tyre Particles in Environmental Samples

This study reviews tyre wear particles as a major but underestimated source of microplastic pollution from road transport, describing methods for detecting these particles in environmental samples including road dust, waterways, and soils. The authors call for greater regulatory attention to tyre-derived emissions alongside other transport-related pollutants.

2022 Energies 41 citations
Article Tier 2

Tire Abrasion as a Major Source of Microplastics in the Environment

This study analyzed tire wear particles as a major source of microplastics in the environment, estimating that tire abrasion contributes a substantial fraction of total microplastic emissions globally and highlighting road runoff as a key delivery pathway to waterways.

2018 Aerosol and Air Quality Research 582 citations
Article Tier 2

Mass concentrations of common microplastics and tire wear rubbers in urban air

Researchers measured mass concentrations of common microplastics and tire wear rubber particles in urban ambient air, providing quantitative data for inhalation exposure assessment. Tire wear rubber dominated the airborne particle mass in traffic-influenced areas, exceeding concentrations of synthetic polymer microplastics.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in road dust – characteristics, pathways and measures

Researchers reviewed the sources, characteristics, and transport pathways of road dust-associated microplastic particles (RAMP), identifying tyre wear rubber, polymer-modified bitumen, and thermoplastic road marking paints as the main contributors. The study found significant data gaps regarding the fate of RAMP in stormwater runoff and wastewater treatment systems.

2019 BIBSYS Brage (BIBSYS (Norway)) 117 citations
Article Tier 2

Is road pavement wear a source of microplastics in stormwater runoff?

This study investigated whether road pavement wear is a measurable source of microplastics in stormwater runoff, distinct from the better-characterized tire wear contribution. Pavement-derived particles were identified in stormwater samples, confirming that road surface material itself contributes to microplastic loading in urban runoff alongside tire wear and other sources.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Elucidation of the Actual State of Existence of Tire-derived Microplastics at Intersections

Researchers sampled road dust at straight road sections and intersections in two areas of Japan and used FTIR to identify tire-derived microplastics, finding higher MP counts in high-traffic areas and at intersection points where multi-directional vehicle movement and turning occur.

2023 Japanese Journal of JSCE 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Tire Wear Monitoring Approach for Hotspot Identification in Road Deposited Sediments from a Metropolitan City in Germany

Researchers developed a systematic road-sampling approach to identify urban hotspots for tire-and-road wear particles (TRWP) — a major category of microplastic pollution — by sweeping road-deposited sediments at six inner-city monitoring sites. Curves and traffic-light zones accumulated 8x and 3x more styrene-butadiene rubber (a TRWP marker) than straight road sections, respectively. Since tire wear is one of the largest sources of microplastics entering waterways via road runoff, this hotspot mapping method can inform targeted mitigation measures.

2023 Sustainability 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Differentiating and Quantifying Carbonaceous (Tire, Bitumen, and Road Marking Wear) and Non-carbonaceous (Metals, Minerals, and Glass Beads) Non-exhaust Particles in Road Dust Samples from a Traffic Environment

Researchers used automated electron microscopy combined with machine learning to identify and count different types of microplastic and wear particles in road dust, finding that tire and bitumen wear particles made up about 19-22% of particles in traffic environments. The method provides a fast, non-destructive way to quantify the types of traffic-generated microplastics polluting urban environments.

2022 Water Air & Soil Pollution 46 citations