Detection and Quantification of Tire Particles in Sediments Using a Combination of Simultaneous Thermal Analysis,...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Tire wear particles (TWP) are a significant environmental pollutant.
• Accurate detection and quantification of TWP in environmental matrices remain challenging due to a lack of robust analytical methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the applicability of a combined Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA), Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR), and Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) approach for detecting and quantifying tire particles in formulated sediments.

Main Methods:

• FTIR spectral data were acquired from 20 sediment samples containing known amounts of tire granules using STA.
• PARAFAC was employed to decompose the complex spectral data into distinct components.
• Linear regression analysis was used to correlate PARAFAC model scores with the known quantities of tire rubber material (RM).

Main Results:

• PARAFAC successfully decomposed the trilinear spectral data into three components, identifying tire rubber materials (RM) and byproducts like water and carbon dioxide.
• Predicted quantities of RM derived from PARAFAC model scores showed strong agreement with measured values in both complex sediment mixtures and pure tire granules.
• The method demonstrated robustness in identifying and quantifying tire particles across different sample types.

Conclusions:

• The integrated STA-FTIR-PARAFAC method provides a robust and accurate means for the detection and quantification of tire wear particles in environmental samples.
• This approach overcomes limitations of existing methods, offering a reliable tool for environmental monitoring and risk assessment related to tire pollution.