Petroleum kerosene fraction, co-processed with renewable hydrocarbons of plant and/or animal origin

Biodegradation in water: screening tests

Description of key information

Kerosines are considered inherently biodegradable, based on the known properties of hydrocarbons in the range C9 to C20. In their environmental classification report CONCAWE considered that kerosines are not readily biodegradable, but as they can be degraded by micro-organisms, they are regarded as being inherently biodegradable (CONCAWE, 2001).

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Biodegradation in water:

inherently biodegradable, not fulfilling specific criteria

Additional information

Substance is a hydrocarbon UVCB. Tests for biodegradation in water are designed for use with single chemical substances and results used for classification.

Kerosine fractions are not readily biodegradable but are considered inherently biodegradable. In a report on environmental classification (Concawe 2001), it was concluded that, based on the known properties of hydrocarbons in the range C9 to C16,kerosines are not readily biodegradable, but are regarded as being inherently biodegradable, since they can be degraded by micro-organisms.

Biowin and BioHC win were used to estimate the degradability of potential consituents of this substance. The Product Library from the Petrorisk model was used to provide a list of potential consituents, the SMILES provided by this model were used to run the Biowin and BioHCwin models. Of the 814 potential consituents 136 were predicted to be readily biodegradable with 714 predicted to degrade within day or weeks. Using the probability assessment 629 met the criteria for being non-persistent. In addition, BioHCwin predicted that 530 would have DT50s of less than 40 days therefore not meeting the criteria for persistence under REACH. It is therefore shown that the majority of the potential consituents identified by Petrorisk will rapidly biodegrade.