Investigation on the adsorption and desorption behaviors of heavy metals by tire wear particles with or without UV ageing processes

In recent years, tire wear particles (TWP), as the significant proportion of microplastics (MPs), has adsorbed much attention due to its widespread presence in aquatic ecosystem. Compared with typical MPs, TWP exists significant differences in composition, additives, characteristics and so on. With TWP and polypropylene (PP) as target MPs, Cd2+ and Pb2+ as target pollutants, the adsorption-desorption characteristics of heavy metal ions on original and aged MPs were studied. Compare with the PP, the SBET of TWP increased more significantly after the UV ageing process. Meanwhile, the zeta potential of TWP increased from −8.01 to −14.6 mV and PP from −5.36 to −9.52 mV, and the surface of the TWP were more negatively-charged. In addition, the hydrophilicity of MPs enhanced due to the increased oxygen-containing functional groups after ageing process. Compared with PP, the physicochemical properties of TWP changed more obviously during UV ageing processes. The adsorption results showed that the pseudo-second-order model could better describe the adsorption processes of Cd2+ and Pb2+ on MPs. Meanwhile, the orders of adsorption capacity of MPs for Cd2+ and Pb2+ were aged TWP > aged PP > original TWP > original PP. The phenomenon of adsorption confirmed that TWP had better vector effects for heavy metal ions than PP, and the ageing processes could enhance the adsorption capacity of MPs. Moreover, the desorption results demonstrated that, compared with PP, the TWP (with higher adsorption capacity) also had the better desorption capacity for heavy metal ions in simulated gastric fluid. Compared with PP, the TWP might cause a more serious hazard to aquatic environment and organisms. These investigations would contribute to assessing the potential environmental and biological risk of TWP, especially considering the effect of the ageing process. •During the UV ageing, the physical and chemical properties of MPs changed obviously.•Ageing enhanced the adsorption capacity and adsorption strength of heavy metals on MPs.•The heavy metal carrying capacity of TWP was larger than that of PP.•TWP released more heavy metals in gastric juices than PP.