Heavy metals from non-exhaust vehicle emissions in urban and motorway road dusts

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Abstract

The main sources of non-exhaust vehicular emissions that contribute to road dust are tire, brake and clutch wear, road surface wear, and other vehicle and road component degradation. This study is an attempt to identify and investigate heavy metals in urban and motorway road dusts as well as in dust from brake linings and tires. Road dust was collected from sections of the A-4 motorway in Poland, which is part of European route E40, and from urban roads in Katowice, Poland. Dust from a relatively unpolluted mountain road was collected and examined as a control sample. Selected metals Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Fe, Se, Sr, Ba, Ti, and Pd were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-optical emission spectroscopy, and atomic absorption spectroscopy on a range of size-fractionated road dust and brake lining dust (<20, 20–56, 56–90, 90–250, and >250 μm). The compositions of brake lining and tire dust were also investigated using scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive spectroscopy. To estimate the degree of potential environmental risk of non-exhaust emissions, comparison with the geochemical background and the calculations of geo-accumulation indices were performed. The finest fractions of urban and motorway dusts were significantly contaminated with all of the investigated metals, especially with Ti, Cu, and Cr, which are well-recognized key tracers of non-exhaust brake wear. Urban dust was, however, more contaminated than motorway dust. It was therefore concluded that brake lining and tire wear strongly contributed to the contamination of road dust.

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Long-Term Effects of Traffic-Related Air Pollution on Mortality in a Dutch Cohort (NLCS-AIR Study)

Rob Beelen, Gerard Hoek, Piet van den Brandt … (2007)

Background Several studies have found an effect on mortality of between-city contrasts in long-term exposure to air pollution. The effect of within-city contrasts is still poorly understood. Objectives We studied the association between long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and mortality in a Dutch cohort. Methods We used data from an ongoing cohort study on diet and cancer with 120,852 subjects who were followed from 1987 to 1996. Exposure to black smoke (BS), nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter ≤mu;M2.5), as well as various exposure variables related to traffic, were estimated at the home address. We conducted Cox analyses in the full cohort adjusting for age, sex, smoking, and area-level socioeconomic status. Results Traffic intensity on the nearest road was independently associated with mortality. Relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for a 10-μg/m3 increase in BS concentrations (difference between 5th and 95th percentile) were 1.05 (1.00–1.11) for natural cause, 1.04 (0.95–1.13) for cardiovascular, 1.22 (0.99–1.50) for respiratory, 1.03 (0.88–1.20) for lung cancer, and 1.04 (0.97–1.12) for mortality other than cardiovascular, respiratory, or lung cancer. Results were similar for NO2 and PM2.5, but no associations were found for SO2. Conclusions Traffic-related air pollution and several traffic exposure variables were associated with mortality in the full cohort. Relative risks were generally small. Associations between natural-cause and respiratory mortality were statistically significant for NO2 and BS. These results add to the evidence that long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with increased mortality.

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Characterization of heavy metal particles embedded in tire dust.

Yoshiaki Tainosho, K. Adachi (2004)

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.

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Brake wear particle emissions: a review

Theodoros Grigoratos, Giorgio Martini (2014)

Traffic-related sources have been recognized as a significant contributor of particulate matter particularly within major cities. Exhaust and non-exhaust traffic-related sources are estimated to contribute almost equally to traffic-related PM10 emissions. Non-exhaust particles can be generated either from non-exhaust sources such as brake, tyre, clutch and road surface wear or already exist in the form of deposited material at the roadside and become resuspended due to traffic-induced turbulence. Among non-exhaust sources, brake wear can be a significant particulate matter (PM) contributor, particularly within areas with high traffic density and braking frequency. Studies mention that in urban environments, brake wear can contribute up to 55 % by mass to total non-exhaust traffic-related PM10 emissions and up to 21 % by mass to total traffic-related PM10 emissions, while in freeways, this contribution is lower due to lower braking frequency. As exhaust emissions control become stricter, relative contributions of non-exhaust sources—and therefore brake wear—to traffic-related emissions will become more significant and will raise discussions on possible regulatory needs. The aim of the present literature review study is to present the state-of-the-art of the different aspects regarding PM resulting from brake wear and provide all the necessary information in terms of importance, physicochemical characteristics, emission factors and possible health effects.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Ewa Adamiec: +48 12 617 50 33 , eadamiec@agh.edu.pl

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Environ Monit Assess

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Environ Monit Assess

Title: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

Publisher: Springer International Publishing (Cham )

ISSN (Print): 0167-6369

ISSN (Electronic): 1573-2959

Publication date (Electronic): 26 May 2016

Publication date PMC-release: 26 May 2016

Publication date (Print): 2016

Volume: 188

Electronic Location Identifier: 369

Affiliations

[ ]Faculty of Geology, Geophysics and Environmental Protection, AGH University of Science and Technology, Al. A. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland

[ ]Faculty of Transport, SUT Silesian University of Technology, ul. Akademicka 2A, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland

Article

Publisher ID: 5377

DOI: 10.1007/s10661-016-5377-1

PMC ID: 4880625

PubMed ID: 27226173

SO-VID: d5314d00-ec8c-44cc-8d34-30632c809e42

License:

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.