Environmental behaviour of treated wood in (semi-)permanent contact with fresh or seawater

IRG/WP 98-50101-20

P Marchal, C Martin

This study presents a strategy for the environmental toxicity evaluation of treated wood towards the aquatic compartment, using non target water organisms toxicity tests. A lixiviation process is applied on wood (Pinus sylvestris) treated with several wood preservatives formulations. The lixiviation process is carried out in the laboratory with ultrapure water or synthetic seawater. After chemical analysis for the pesticides migration, the leachates are evaluated for their ecotoxicity. For freshwater, the standard ecotoxicological tests on the luminescence bacteria Vibrio fisheri, the microcrustacean Daphnia magna and the green unicellular algae Raphidocelis subcapitata are used. For seawater, marine tests using organisms such as the microcrustacean Artemia salina and the marine alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum are performed. Then, complementary methods for the detection of mutagenic components (genotoxicity) are applied on wood leachates in order to complete the evaluation. The same chemical treatment is therefore evaluated on fresh and seawater through this laboratory methodology applied to treated wood.


Keywords: EMISSIONS; LEACHATES; ECOTOXICITY; GENOTOXICITY

Conference: 98-02-02/03 Cannes-Mandelieu, France


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