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Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.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

FAT 21021/E was found to be not readily biodegradable.

Additional information

By the nature of their design and use, acid dyes are not intended to be readily biodegradable as this would assist in the rapid destruction of the dyestuff, rendering it unfit for purpose. As such, it is accepted that such substances are not readily biodegradable under relevant environmental conditions. A published study (Pagga & Brown, 1986) describes the results of the testing of 87 dyestuffs in short-term aerobic biodegradation tests. The authors of this publication concluded that dyestuffs are very unlikely to show any significant biodegradation in such tests and that 'there seems little point in carrying out such test procedures’ on dyestuffs.There are ISO, European, American (AATCC) and national standards for the colour fastness of dyes. Dyes are required to have specific fastness properties. If the dyes were biodegradable, it would not be possible for them to have these fastness properties. Nonetheless, the biodegradable studies were conducted for Acid Red 260 which are summarised below:


The biodegradation of the test substance FAT 21021/D in a OECD 302C test after 28 days was 0 %. The BOD5 and COD of FAT 21021/D was found to be 0 mg O2/g and 1358 mg O2/g respectively in tests performed according to guidelines, ISO 5815 and EEC 92/69/C.6 (1992) respectively. The resulting BOD5/COD ratio was 0 in this case. The results of inherent biodegradability test (0%) and the BOD5/COD ratio (<0.5) indicate that FAT 21021/E is not readily biodegradable.