Characterization of heavy metal particles embedded in tire dust

Tire dust is a significant pollutant, especially as a source of zinc in the urban environment. This study characterizes the morphology and chemical composition of heavy metal particles embedded in tire dust and traffic-related materials (brake dust, yellow paint, and tire tread) as measured by a field emission scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (FESEM/EDX). In 60 samples of tire dust, we detected 2288 heavy metal particles, which we classified into four groups using cluster analysis according to the following typical elements: cluster 1: Fe, cluster 2: Cr/Pb, cluster 3: multiple elements (Ti, Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, Sr, Y, Zr, Sn, Sb, Ba, La, Ce, Pb), cluster 4: ZnO. According to their morphologies and chemical compositions, the possible sources of each cluster were as follows: (1) brake dust (particles rich in Fe and with trace Cu, Sb, and Ba), (2) yellow paint (CrPbO(4) particles), (3) brake dust (particulate Ti, Fe, Cu, Sb, Zr, and Ba) and heavy minerals (Y, Zr, La, and Ce), (4) tire tread (zinc oxide). When the chemical composition of tire dust was compared to that of tire tread, the tire dust was found to have greater concentrations of heavy metal elements as well as mineral or asphalt pavement material characterized by Al, Si, and Ca. We conclude that tire dust consists not only of the debris from tire wear but also of assimilated heavy metal particles emitted from road traffic materials such as brake lining and road paint.