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Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.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

Biodegradation in water and sediment: simulation tests

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Administrative data

Link to relevant study record(s)

Description of key information

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, Annex IX, Section 9.2.1.2 and 9.2.1.4, Column 2, the study does not need to be conducted if the substance is readily biodegradable. Methyl formate and its hydrolytic products are experimentally assessed to be readily biodegradable (see IUCLID Ch. 5.2.1). Therefore, no biodegradation studies in surface water and sediment will be provided for substances.

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Additional information

According to the available hydrolysis study for the substance, Methyl formates' susceptibility to hydrolysis increases with pH as well as with temperature. The hydrolysis half-life ranges from 410 h at pH 4 and 20 °C to less than 1 hour at pH 9 and 25 °C (OECD 111, BASF SE, 2010). Therefore, it can be concluded, that under environmentally relevant conditions (pH 7-9) the rapid hydrolysis will be the major fate process of the methyl formate due to the short half-life in aqueous solution. Therefore, the assessment of the environmental fate of the substance is also performed for the hydrolytic products: formic acid and methanol.

 Water:

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, Annex IX, Section 9.2.1.2, Column 2, the study does not need to be conducted if the substance is readily biodegradable. Methyl formate and its hydrolytic products are experimentally assessed to be readily biodegradable (see IUCLID Ch. 5.2.1). Therefore, no biodegradation studies in surface water will be provided for substances.

Sediment:

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, Annex IX, Section 9.2.1.4, Column 2, the study does not need to be conducted if the substance is readily biodegradable. Methyl formate and its hydrolytic products are experimentally assessed to be readily biodegradable (see IUCLID Ch. 5.2.1). Therefore, no biodegradation studies in sediment will be provided for substances.