For the first time, tyre abrasion could be analytically detected in environmental samples.
Source: BAM
Microplastics are detected nearly everywhere in the environment. In the discussion about sources and relevant pathways of microplastics tire abrasion plays a key role. According to actual calculations tire particles are one of the major sources of microplastics. However, these data are calculated based upon market data for consumption, not on analysis and findings in the real environment. The reason for this is, that the most common spectroscopic tools, Raman or FTIR microscopy, cannot detected these particles, because of the intrinsic fluorescence or the added carbon black in the materials.
In the present article we show for first time the detection of tire abrasion particles in real samples using our recently developed, analytic tool for microplastic detection, the Thermo Extraction Desorption Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (TED-GC-MS). Using TED-GC-MS the samples are heated in an oven in a nitrogen atmosphere. Decomposition products are purged from the oven and transferred through a heated coupling device to a solid-phase adsorber bar. The solid phase adsorbs a representative section of the decomposition products and is then transferred to a thermal desorption unit of the GC-MS. Here the decomposition products are thermally desorbed and mobilized, cryo-focused in a cooled injection system, separated through a chromatographic column and detected in the mass spectrometer. In contrast to other methods TED-GC-MS detects and quantifies specific decomposition products that are markers for certain polymers. This method is fast, completely automated, and can analyse samples with masses up to several milligrams.
Two Birds with One Stone-Fast and Simultaneous Analysis of Microplastics: Microparticles Derived from Thermoplastics and Tire Wear
Paul Eisentraut, Erik Dümichen, A. Ruhl, M. Jekel, M. Albrecht, M. Gehde, Ulrike Braun
Environmental Science & Technology Letters, 2018, 5 (10), pp 608–613
BAM Department Materials Protection and Surface Technology, Division Nanotribology and Nanostructuring of Surfaces