About NEEVE
Particle and microplastics emission of road vehicles – A severe health problem
Transportation is one of the human activities with the greatest impact on air pollution. In 2020, the WHO (World Health Organisation) reported outdoor air pollution which is currently dominated by very fine particles with a diameter equal to or less than 2.5 µm, emitted largely by automobile traffic, causing the death of 4 million people per year worldwide, mainly because their effects in cardiopulmonary organs.
The Best Available Techniques Reference (BREF) document by European Environment Agency (EEA) (Eionet Report - ETC/ATNI 2020/5) highlighted that there are very few policy interventions to tackle the problem of the increase in particulate matter (PM) emissions from non-exhaust sources (sources other than from vehicle exhaust systems) due to the lack of guidelines and insufficient research. They established that non-exhaust PM emissions from transportation have already surpassed exhaust PM emissions in importance, first for PM10 and more recently for PM2.5 as well.
According to a recent European Environment Agency (EEA) report on Health and Environment, every year in the EU over 400,000 premature deaths are likely due to ambient air pollution. Moreover, the EU commission has estimated at least 330 billion euros annual economic cost for air pollution. Therefore, the commission has established the following set of targets to achieve by 2030 in the “EU Action Plan: Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil”:
- Improving air quality to reduce the number of premature deaths caused by air pollution by 55%.
- Improving water quality by reducing waste, plastic litter at sea (by 50%) and microplastics released into the environment (by 30%)
- Reducing by 25% the EU ecosystems where air pollution threatens biodiversity.
Fig.1. Deaths from outdoor particulate matter air pollution by region.
With the purpose of protecting air quality, European regulations (EURO) are introduced, which regulate the limits of polluting emissions from transport (e.g. EU 2018/1832). Implementation of stringent emission regulations and the growth of electric vehicles, mean that more attention should be shifted to road traffic-derived non-exhaust emissions (NEE).
According to the research literature and partner works, NEE are generated mostly by wear from brakes, tyres, and road surfaces (as illustrated in the NEEVE logotype). NEE particles from these sources account for nearly equal proportions in traffic-related emissions.
NEEVE’s general mission and purpose
NEEVE’s general mission is to address the abovementioned situation and give the various actors information, methods and tools to reduce the problems.
The main technological goal of the NEEVE project is to design, develop and demonstrate innovative techniques and methods for the measurement and reduction of non-exhaust emissions (particles and microplastics) from vehicle/road elements (brakes, tyres and pavements).
Furthermore, the non-technical goal of the NEEVE project is to supply guidance on how to replicate and exploit the innovative results in other road transport sectors (such as buses, trucks), as well as to promote and disseminate the awareness of NEE in society to influence the policy makers, vehicle manufacturers and drivers to change regulations, vehicle elements and driving behaviours to achieve the maximal reduction of the NEE.
Overall research method
To achieve the general goals, the NEEVE consortium plans to characterize, design and develop real-time onboard measurement systems for vehicles to measure and monitor NEE, such as the particle mass (e.g. PM10, PM2.5), particle number (PN), size and distribution, chemical analysis, as well as morphological analysis with electron microscopy. Moreover, NEEVE consortia will design, develop and test less polluting vehicle/road components (brake pads/discs, tyres, and pavements) in real pilot demonstrations to minimise the NEE of particles and microplastics due to the braking system, and the tyre-pavement interactions.
Some of the new components, such as brake pads/discs and new road pavements, will be offered commercially.
NEEVE will build on relevant research already performed on NEE by the partners and international consortia. In particular, the results and achievements of the Horizon 2020 project Low particle Emissions and lOw Noise Tyres (LEON-T) (leont-project.eu), set to finish 30 November 2024, will constitute a solid ground for NEEVE in relevant parts.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Life programme under grant agreement number:
Project 101148428 — LIFE23-ENV-ES-LIFE NEEVE