Tyre wear is inevitable, but could the wear particles be scavenged for reuse, a report on Nature.com suggests this could be the case
Tyre wear particles are a long-standing problem that the tyre industry has been seeking a solution for. The small particles erode from tyres in use and they get deposited, largely, at the roadside in ditches and verges and drains. There is an argument that they get washed into the oceans, but some evidence suggests that this is not the case as the airborne particles tend to get deposited in surrounding soils.
The report talks about various types of tyre wear particles, and accepts that road wear material is complex to address. However, it has used the example of rubber removed from airstrips as a testbed (amongst others), to identify the characterisations of rubber powders to be expected.
In short, there is a potential opportunity in recovering rubber tyre wear particles.
Unusually, we are providing a link to the report as it is copyright and far too long for us to publish online. So, to check the detail, click on this link to the Analysis of tyre wear airstrip particles.
