Accelerated aging of tire and road wear particles by elevated temperature, artificial sunlight and mechanical stress — A laboratory study on particle properties, extractables and leachables

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 904; p. 166679
• Main Authors: Weyrauch, Steffen, Seiwert, Bettina, Voll, Milena, Wagner, Stephan, Reemtsma, Thorsten
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.12.2023
• Subjects: Curing agents; HMMM; Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; Oxidation; Vulcanization accelerators; Water; Water; Oxidation; HMMM; Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; Vulcanization accelerators; Curing agents
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166679

Tire and road wear particles (TRWP) are generated in large quantity by automobile traffic on roads but their way of degradation in the environment is largely unclear. Laboratory experiments were performed on the effect of elevated temperature (simulating 2–3 years), sunlight exposure (simulating 0.5 years) and mechanical stress on the physical properties and chemical composition of TRWP and of cryo-milled tire tread (CMTT). No significant effects were observed of the applied mechanical stress on mean properties of pristine particles. After sunlight exposure up to 40 % in mass were lost from the TRWP, likely due to the loss of mineral incrustations from their surface. The chemical composition of TRWP and CMTT was characterized by determining 27 compounds, antioxidants (phenylene diamines), vulcanization agents (benzothiazoles and guanidines) and their transformation products (TPs). Extractables of TRWP (580–850 μg/g) were dominated by TPs, namely benzothiazolesulfonic acid (BTSA). CMTT showed much higher amounts of extractables (4600 μg/g) which were dominated by parent chemicals such as N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N′-phenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine (6-PPD), diphenylguanidine (DPG) and mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT). Sunlight exposure affected the amount of extractables more strongly than elevated temperature, for TRWP (−45 % vs −20 %) and CMTT (−80 % vs −25 %) and provoked a clear shift from parent compounds to their TPs. After sunlight exposure extractables of TRWP were dominated by BTSA and DPG. Sunlight exposure drastically reduced the 6-PPD amount extracted from both, TRWP and CMTT (−93 %, −98 %), while its quinone (6-PPDQ) increased by around 1 % of the 6-PPD decrease, only. For many TPs, concentration in leachates were higher than in extracts, indicating ongoing transformation of their parent compounds during leaching. These results highlight that abiotic aging of TRWP leads to strong changes in their chemical composition which affect their particle properties and are of relevance for the environmental exposure to tire-related chemicals. [Display omitted] •Aging of tire and road wear particles changes their properties in an unknown manner.•A lab study simulates temperature (3 a), sunlight (0.5 a) and mechanical stress.•Aging effects on particle size distribution and density of TRWP were not significant.•Chemical composition shifted from parent compounds to transformation products.•TRWP aging significantly alters environmental exposure to tire-related chemicals.