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Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.

The new ECHA CHEM database has been released by ECHA, and it now contains all REACH registration data. There are more details on the transition of ECHA's published data to ECHA CHEM here.

Diss Factsheets

Environmental fate & pathways

Endpoint summary

Administrative data

Description of key information

Additional information

Two adsorption/desorption studies were conducted using four different soil types according to the US EPA guideline 163-1. However, one study (ABC Lab 2734) is considered as supporting information onyl since the stability of glutaraldehyde in the test conditions was not determined. Due to rapid transformation of glutaraldehyde (half-life in soil 1.7 days) and a long incubation period (30 days) it is unlikely that any significant amount of the parent compound was present in the soils in the start of the experiment. No specific analytical method was applied after the liquid scintillation counting in order to analyse what substances the radioactivity represented.

In the second study (Shepler 1994) the Freundlich K values for adsorption ranged from 0.59 (sediment with 24.9% of total radioactivity adsorbed) to 4.94 (silty clay loam with 43.1% of total radioactivity adsorbed). Freundlich K values for desorption were not calculated, this was due to rapid degradation of Glutaraldehyde which could not be measured in the desorption supernatants.

In addition, the log Koc of glutaraldehyde was calculated to be -0.83 at 25 °C (corresponding Koc =  1.0) using SRC KocWin v2.00.

Another study report (Gonsior 2001) according to ISO/CD 18749 Batch Adsorption Test showed that glutaraldehyde is rapidly removed in activated sludge by a combination of biodegradation and irreversible binding (e.g. covalent binding) to the activated sludge.

Based on the very low Henry´s constant (0.011 Pa*m3/mol at 25°C) volatilisation is not expected. Over time, the substance will mainly distribute into water (ca. 63 %) and air (ca. 37 %).

Conclusion: Glutaraldehyde is mobile in sandy sediment and moderately mobile in the four studied soils. The arithmetic mean of 326 L/kg will be used for the risk assessment.