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Environmental fate & pathways

Biodegradation in soil

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Description of key information

The half-lives of biodegradation of cresols in soil range between 0.6 d (m-cresol) and 1.6 d (o-cresol) in acidic sandy loam and between 0.5 d (p-cresol) and 11.3 d (m-cresol) in basic sandy silt loam. 

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Additional information

The degradation behaviour of o-, m- and p-cresol was investigated by Loehr et al. (1992) in two different soils. The first soil (acidic) was a sandy loam with an organic carbon content of 0.94%. The second soil (basic) was a sandy silt loam with an organic carbon content of 3.25%. The loadings of the soils and the degradation were monitored by an HPLC method. The test was conducted in darkness at 20 °C. The test compounds degraded with the following half-lives:

 

Substance

acidic soil – sandy loam

half-life [days]

basic soil – sandy silt loam

half-life [days]

o-cresol

1.6

5.1

m-cresol

0.6

11.3

p-cresol

< 1

0.5