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Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.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

Ecotoxicological information

Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates

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Administrative data

Link to relevant study record(s)

Description of key information

Potassium hydroxide is a strong alkaline substance that dissociates completely in water to K+ and OH- (OECD SIDS potassium hydroxide, 2002).

Therefore the only posssible effect would result from the pH effect. However, pH will remain between environmentally expected ranges.

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Additional information

OECD SIDS (2002) assigned a low code of reliability (invalid or not assignable) to all available aquatic toxicity tests, as in general the tests were not conducted according to the current test guidelines (compare also with EU RAR of NaOH, section 3.2.1.1.4, page 30). Furthermore, in many tests reports there were no data on pH, buffer capacity and/or test medium composition, although this is essential information for toxicity tests with KOH.

The tests with NaOH and aquatic invertebrates resulted in acute LC50 values and toxic/lethal concentrations ranging from 30 to < or = 1000 mg/L (EU RAR NaOH).