Tire-associated chemicals

Tires contain complex mixtures of chemicals that are used in their production and formed during the production process or throughout the tire life-cycle. These chemicals include antioxidants like 6-PPD or its oxidation product 6-PPD quinone and 1,3-diphenylguanidine which aids in the vulcanization process. Many of these chemicals are released to the environment from tire and road wear particles (TRWP) where they may undergo transformation. We analyse and quantify tire-associated chemicals in various media from storm run-off to biota, describe their release characteristic throughout different life-stages of tires, and study their environmental fate. To better understand the fate of tire related chemicals we combine lab experiments with environmental monitoring.

Projects:

Andromeda
Tire Industry Project 2/3
AirPlast

Contributing scientists:

Bettina Seiwert
Daniel Zahn
Aurelio Foscari
Steffen Weyrauch
Limei Han
Thorsten Reemtsma

Tire-associated chemicals Tire-associated chemicals

Publications:

[1] Foscari A., Schmidt N., Seiwert B., Herzke D., Sempéré R., Reemtsma T. (2023): Leaching of chemicals and DOC from tire particles under simulated marine conditions, Frontiers in Environmental Science, 11: :1206449. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1206449
[2] Seiwert, B., Nihemaiti, M., Troussier, M., Weyrauch, S., Reemtsma, T. (2022): Abiotic oxidative transformation of 6-PPD and 6-PPD quinone from tires and occurrence of their products in snow from urban roads and in municipal wastewater, Water Res. 212, art. 118122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2022.118122
[3] Wagner, S., Klöckner, P., Reemtsma, T. (2022): Aging of tire and road wear particles in terrestrial and freshwater environments – A review on processes, testing, analysis and impact, Chemosphere 288, Part 2, art. 132467. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132467
[4] Seiwert, B., Klöckner, P., Wagner, S., Reemtsma, T. (2020): Source-related smart suspect screening in the aqueous environment: search for tire-derived persistent and mobile trace organic contaminants in surface waters, Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 412 (20), 4909 – 4919. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-020-02653-1
[5] Klöckner, P., Seiwert, B., Eisentraut, P., Braun, U., Reemtsma, T., Wagner, S. (2020): Characterization of tire and road wear particles from road runoff indicates highly dynamic particle properties, Water Res. 185, art. 116262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116262