Environmental consequences! The wear and tear of car tires cause pollution in the atmosphere!

Environmental consequences! The wear and tear of car tires cause pollution in the atmosphere!

Updated on August 17, 2022 19:14 PM by Andrew Koschiev

Car owners replace their tires every five years as the driver brakes, accelerates, or turns a corner where the tire wears down a little. This wear and tear of the tire had extreme environmental consequences. About 6.1 million metric tons of tire dust end up in the atmosphere annually. It is a common microplastic pollutant in oceans and remote places like the Arctic.

The source of pollution!

The Tyre Collective created a wheel-mounted device that collects the tiny particles on electrostatically charged copper plates. Siobhan Anderson, chief scientific officer and co-founder of The Tyre Collective, said, all we know is that tires wear down, but no one knows where the material goes as it’s going into air and water. Anderson hopes that The Tyre Collective's panted device will tackle this pollution at its source and will win a James Dyson Award in 2020.

Related: Car tires are disastrous for the environment. This startup wants to be a driving force in fixing the problem

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Rubber meets the road!

Non-exhaust emissions, including tire, brake, and road surface wear, account for 90% of all particulate emissions from vehicles. In the tire dust, the microplastics contribute to dangerous PM2.5 pollution that people can exhale and cause respiratory health issues. The Tire Collective team works out how to stop bits of tire flying onto the road and into the air. Many different methods are tried, and she says they had a lightbulb moment as they realized the particles have an electrostatic charge.

Experiment with tire dust!

Rubbing a balloon on a jumper picks off the fluff, where The Tyre Collective's device, powered by the cars alternator, uses a copper plate to create electric fields that attract the tire dust. They can clean off the plates and put them into a storage canister. The team created its first road test last year to prove the core technology in collaborating with automotive company Geely Auto Group.

Also Read: ENSO - Sustainable, Low-Emission Tyres for Improved Air Quality

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Growing problem!

Electric vehicles are heavier when compared to equivalent conventional cars. The mass emission from tire wear is thousands of times greater than those from tailpipes which have been vastly reduced in recent years by high-efficiency exhaust filters. EVs emit PM2.5 particles, which is more than conventional cars, while lighter EVs emit slightly less. EVs can hit the road where non-exhaust emissions are expected to increase by 52.4% by 2030.

Tired toxic chemicals can affect wildlife, human health, and the environment. Tire companies want to be aware of this issue and interested in innovating. The automotive industry is receptive to The Tyre Collective device, where the company; last year's road test showed car tire manufacturers that the device is real and working.

Reinventing the wheel!

The Tyre Collective conducted a three-month trial with Zhero, a London-based company offering low-emission and sustainable logistics services. The co-founder of Zhero, Ollie King, says that the development device could help reduce and collect that emission, and they wanted to be a part of the process. It captures about 60% of the airborne particles, so the team is currently exploring ways to fine-tune the electrostatics, device placement in cars, and airflow.

Related: :Car tires are disastrous for the environment. This startup wants to be a driving force in solving the problem

In 2024, The Tyre Collective hopes to soft-launch its product, and they focus its effort on large fleet vehicles and delivery vans that are in regular maintenance, making it easier to integrate, monitor, and clean the tech. Anderson hopes all the cars have to be fitted with this device before hitting the road.

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