title: Automobile tires--a potential source of highly carcinogenic dibenzopyrenes to the environment.
abstract: Eight tires were analyzed for 15 high molecular weight (HMW) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), using pressurized fluid extraction. The variability of the PAH concentrations determined between different tires was large; a factor of 22.6 between the lowest and the highest. The relative abundance of the analytes was quite similar regardless of tire. Almost all (92.3%) of the total extractable PAH content was attributed to five PAHs: benzo[ghi]perylene, coronene, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, benzo[e]pyrene, and benzo[a]pyrene. The difference in the measured PAH content between summer and winter tires varied substantially across manufacturers, making estimates of total vehicle fleet emissions very uncertain. However, when comparing different types of tires from the same manufacturer they had significantly (p = 0.05) different PAH content. Previously, there have been no data available for carcinogenic dibenzopyrene isomers in automobile tires. In this study, the four dibenzopyrene isomers dibenzo[a,l]pyrene, dibenzo[a,e]pyrene, dibenzo[a,i]pyrene, and dibenzo[a,h]pyrene constituted <2% of the sum of the 15 analyzed HMW PAHs. These findings show that automobile tires may be a potential previously unknown source of carcinogenic dibenzopyrenes to the environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry Arrhenius Laboratory, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sadiktsis
authors.forename: Christoffer
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bergvall
authors.forename: Christer
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Westerholm
mesh_terms: D001336:Automobiles; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons