Biodegradability aquatic tests

Simplified notifications, for substances produced or imported at less than one tonne per year. Minimal data are required. These data include melting point, water solubility, and octanol-water partition coefficient. For organic substances, the simplified notification must also include data from a test of ready biodegradability and, if the substance is not readily biodegraded, a test report on acute aquatic toxicity (ideally to fish). An earthworm acute toxicity test may be required. For inorganic substances, testing on acute aquatic toxicity (and, under certain circumstances, acute toxicity to earthworms) is required [145,146]. 

Another, more drastic approach to improve the precision of the measurement of CO2 production and biodegradation and ascertain that effectively the CO2 derived from a test material is determined, is by the use of radiolabelled test material. An aerobic aquatic test procedure as well as an aerobic, composting test procedure using such material in which the production of 002 is measured by absorption and liquid scintillation counting has been developed in the ASTM subcommittee D20.96 on degradable plastics and has been published as ASTM D6340-98 [47]. 

Vegetable and seed oils as well as some synthetic base stocks present a new class of biodegradable base stocks. These fluids (10) have excellent biodegradation properties as measured by criteria developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). OECD 301 and EPA 560/6-82-003 measure the biodegradation of lubricants. These tests were developed to measure the degradation of oil, especially two-cycle ok, on waterways. Aquatic toxicity criteria toward fish is also found to be acceptable for this class of fluids as measured by EPA 560/6-82-002 and OECD 203 1-12. 

In a continuous model river test system it can be shown that after passage through a sewage treatment plant ester sulfonates have no significant influence on the qualitative and quantitative composition of the biocenosis of a receiving water [113]. All the investigations into the environmental fate of a-sulfo fatty acid esters demonstrate that aquatic toxicity is alleviated by their fast ultimate biodegradability, which allows them to be classified as environmentally compatible. 

Cripe CR, Walker WW, Pritchard PH, et al. 1987. A shake-flask test for estimation of biodegradability of toxic organic substances in the aquatic environment. Ecotoxicol Environ Safety 14 239-251. 

Ingerslev, F., A. Baun, and N. Nyholm. 1998. Aquatic biodegradation behavior of pentachlorophenol assessed through a battery of shake flask die-away tests. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 17 1712-1719. 

Zee, M.E. van der, Stoutjesdijk, J.H., Fell, H. and Feijen, J. (1998b). Relevance of aquatic biodegradation tests for predicting degradation of polymeric materials during biological waste treatment. Chemosphere, 36(3), 461 73. 

---