Octyl acetate

PBT assessment

PBT assessment: overall result

PBT status:

the substance is not PBT / vPvB

Justification:

Classification of Octyl acetate for effects in the environment:

 

The chemical Octyl acetate (CAS no. 112-14-1) are for example used as a flavour and fragrance agent. The aim was to assess whether the PBT criterion within Annex XIII was fulfilled for Octyl acetate. The PBT criterion was herein assessed based on experimental data in conjunction with standardized environmental fate models. Here follows a description of the PBT assessment.

 

 

Persistence assessment

The tested substance does not fulfil the P criterion within Annex XIII based on the assessment that here follows:

 

Biotic degradation

Biodegradability of Geranyl butyrate is predicted using QSAR toolbox version 3.4. Test substance undergoes 84.90% degradation by BOD in 28 days. Thus, based on percentage degradation, the test chemical Octyl acetate was estimated to be readily biodegradable in water.

 

Estimation Programs Interface Suite (EPI suite, 2017) was run to predict the biodegradation potential of the test compound Octyl acetate (CAS no. 112 -14 -1) in the presence of mixed populations of environmental microorganisms. The biodegradability of the substance was calculated using seven different models such as Linear Model, Non-Linear Model, Ultimate Biodegradation Timeframe, Primary Biodegradation Timeframe, MITI Linear Model, MITI Non-Linear Model and Anaerobic Model (called as Biowin 1-7, respectively) of the BIOWIN v4.10 software. The results indicate that Octyl acetate is expected to be readily biodegradable.

 

The experimental data for read-across substances Butyl carbitol acetate (CAS: 124-17-4), ethyl acetate (CAS: 141-78-6) and Methyl cellosolve acetate (CAS: 110-49-6) also indicate that they are readily biodegradable.

 

Environmental fate

According to the fugacity model levels III, the most likely environmental fate for this test chemical is soil (i.e.estimated to 64.4%). In soil, Octyl acetate was expected to have moderate mobility based upon a KOC of 204.5 (Log Koc: 2.31). The half-life in soil (17.33 days estimated by EPI suite) indicates that the chemical is not persistent in soil and the exposure risk to soil dwelling animals is low.

 

If released in to the environment, 27.6 % and 0.217% of the chemical will partition into water and sediment according to the Mackay fugacity model level III in EPI suite version 4.1 (2016). However, the half-life (8.66 days and 77.916 days, in water and sediment respectively, estimated by EPI suite) indicates that the exposure risk to aquatic and sediment dwelling animals is moderate to low.

 

Hence it has been concluded that Octyl acetate is not persistent in nature.  

 

 

Bioaccumulation assessment

The tested substance does not fulfil the B criterion within Annex XIII based on the assessment that here follows:

 

The log octanol-water partition coefficient (log Kow) was estimated to 3.81 (EPI Suite Version 4.1, 2017). If this chemical is released into the aquatic environment, there should be a low risk for the chemical to bioaccumulate in fish and food chains.

 

Toxicity assessment

The tested substance does not fulfil the T criterion within Annex XIII based on the assessment that here follows:

 

Mammals

The tested chemical is regarded to be not classified for carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and reprotoxicity, Further, there is no evidence of chronic toxicity, as identified by the classifications STOT (repeated exposure), category 1(oral, dermal, inhalation of gases/vapours, inhalation of dust/mist/fume) or category 2 (oral, dermal, inhalation of gases/vapours, inhalation of dust/mist/fume).

 

Aquatic organisms

 

All of the available short-term eco-toxicity estimation for fish, invertebrates and algae for the substance indicates the LC50/EC50 value to be in the range 2.46 – 265 mg/L. These value suggest classification in Aquatic chronic 2 category but since the substance is readily biodegradable in nature, hence it was considered to be not classified as per the CLP regulation.

There are no available long-term toxicity evaluations for Octyl acetate. NOEC values for the read-across substance 2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)ethyl acetate in a 72 hour study on algae is reported as 1000 mg/L.

By speculation, adverse effects at environmentally relevant concentrations in freshwater species were not expected for Octyl acetate based on the data mentioned above.

The chemical was therefore not considered as hazardous to aquatic environments as per the criteria set out in Annex XIII.

 

Conclusion

Based on critical, independent and collective evaluation of information summarized herein, the tested compound does not fulfil the P, B and T criterion and has therefore not been classified as a PBT compound within Annex XIII.