The objective of this study was to measure the depletion of inorganic wood preservative components regarding the proposed OECD guideline "Estimation of emissions from preservative-treated wood to the environment: laboratory method for wooden commodities exposed in the use class 4 and 5" as part of the project "Investigations concerning the influence of test parameters on the release of biocidal actives from treated timber in leaching tests". Pine sapwood specimens (50x10x150) were pressure impregnated with CCB according to European Use Class 4. Before leaching all samples were stores 4 weeks for fixation. In addition leaching tests were performed according to the European Standard EN 84 by means of EN 113 blocks. Parallel investigations were carried out between two laboratories to assess the repeatability and comparability of the methods. The results of chemical analysis of leachates taken at different time intervals show that similar depletion rates were determined for copper and boron independent on the leaching protocol used. However, the loss of copper as well as chromium in short term dipping experiments was often lower than the detection limit. Furthermore it can be stated that the difference between parallels was higher for the results which were obtained for the OECD guideline that EN 84. A comparison of both laboratory results indicate that a quite good repeatability is given in case of the CCB treated material.

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