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The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment

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01-09-2011 | LCIA OF IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH AND ECOSYSTEMS (USEtox)

Addressing speciation in the effect factor for characterisation of freshwater ecotoxicity—the case of copper

Authors: Karen S. Christiansen, Peter E. Holm, Ole K. Borggaard, Michael Z. Hauschild

Published in: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment | Issue 8/2011

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Abstract

Purpose

Determination of the ecotoxicity effect factor (EF) in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is based on test data reporting the total dissolved concentration of a substance. In spite of the recognised influence of chemical speciation and physico-chemical characteristics of the aquatic systems on toxicity of dissolved metals, these properties are not considered when calculating characterization factors (CFs) for metals. It is hypothesised that the main cause of the variation in reported EC50 values of Cu among published test results lies in different speciation patterns for Cu in the test media, and that the toxicity of Cu is predominantly caused by the free Cu²⁺ ion. Hence, the free Cu²⁺ ion concentration should substitute the total dissolved metal concentration when determining the EF.

Materials and methods

The study was based on a review of published ecotoxicity studies reporting acute and chronic EC50 data for Cu to Daphnia magna and to different species of fish and algae. The speciation pattern of Cu in the different media applied in the studies was calculated using the Visual MINTEQ model. EFs were calculated according to the expression applied in the USEtox™ characterization model.

Results and discussion

Reported EC₅₀ values for Cu show variations of one to several orders of magnitude for the same organism, but the study indicates that the large variation is caused by differences in water chemistry of the test media influencing the metal speciation. The relationship between the calculated free Cu²⁺ ion concentration and reported EC₅₀ values indicates that the aquatic ecotoxicity of Cu to D. magna can be predicted from the free ion concentration. Other results confirm that the free Cu²⁺ ion concentration depends on the [Cu]/[DOC] ratio since the majority of the total dissolved Cu is present as Cu-DOC complexes when the media contains more than 1 mg/L of DOC, and since Cu in such complexes has limited availability to the test organisms.

Conclusions

These results suggest that speciation should be taken into account in the modelling of both EFs and fate factors for LCIA, and the EF for Cu in the aquatic environment should be based on the concentration of the free Cu²⁺ ion.

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Title: Addressing speciation in the effect factor for characterisation of freshwater ecotoxicity—the case of copper
Authors: Karen S. Christiansen
Peter E. Holm
Ole K. Borggaard
Michael Z. Hauschild
Publication date: 01-09-2011
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment / Issue 8/2011
Print ISSN: 0948-3349
Electronic ISSN: 1614-7502
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-011-0305-7

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Abstract

Purpose

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Conclusions

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