On the impact of airborne brake wear emissions on environmental safеty

Abstract

The safety of road vehicles is a problem for the traffic participants since it still occurs a number of accidents resulting in injuries and fatalities each day around the world. It is known that road vehicles have a negative impact on humans, animals, and the environment due to exhaust and non-exhaust emissions. A relative large part of the total non-exhaust airborne emissions originate from the wear of different vehicle components such as brakes, tires, and clutches. Airborne brake wear emissions seems to be the largest source of non-exhaust particle emission in cities. In the last years, several studies about airborne brake wear particles have been published in the literature. The aim of this paper is to review and summarize the latest scientific literature concerning airborne brake wear particles from road vehicles. The impact of airborne brake wear particles on the environment and humans are presented and discussed. Also, research questions needed to be addressed in the future are presented.