Registration Dossier
Registration Dossier
Data platform availability banner - registered substances factsheets
Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.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
Use of this information is subject to copyright laws and may require the permission of the owner of the information, as described in the ECHA Legal Notice.
EC number: 207-439-9 | CAS number: 471-34-1
- Life Cycle description
- Uses advised against
- Endpoint summary
- Appearance / physical state / colour
- Melting point / freezing point
- Boiling point
- Density
- Particle size distribution (Granulometry)
- Vapour pressure
- Partition coefficient
- Water solubility
- Solubility in organic solvents / fat solubility
- Surface tension
- Flash point
- Auto flammability
- Flammability
- Explosiveness
- Oxidising properties
- Oxidation reduction potential
- Stability in organic solvents and identity of relevant degradation products
- Storage stability and reactivity towards container material
- Stability: thermal, sunlight, metals
- pH
- Dissociation constant
- Viscosity
- Additional physico-chemical information
- Additional physico-chemical properties of nanomaterials
- Nanomaterial agglomeration / aggregation
- Nanomaterial crystalline phase
- Nanomaterial crystallite and grain size
- Nanomaterial aspect ratio / shape
- Nanomaterial specific surface area
- Nanomaterial Zeta potential
- Nanomaterial surface chemistry
- Nanomaterial dustiness
- Nanomaterial porosity
- Nanomaterial pour density
- Nanomaterial photocatalytic activity
- Nanomaterial radical formation potential
- Nanomaterial catalytic activity
- Endpoint summary
- Stability
- Biodegradation
- Bioaccumulation
- Transport and distribution
- Environmental data
- Additional information on environmental fate and behaviour
- Ecotoxicological Summary
- Aquatic toxicity
- Endpoint summary
- Short-term toxicity to fish
- Long-term toxicity to fish
- Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Toxicity to aquatic algae and cyanobacteria
- Toxicity to aquatic plants other than algae
- Toxicity to microorganisms
- Endocrine disrupter testing in aquatic vertebrates – in vivo
- Toxicity to other aquatic organisms
- Sediment toxicity
- Terrestrial toxicity
- Biological effects monitoring
- Biotransformation and kinetics
- Additional ecotoxological information
- Toxicological Summary
- Toxicokinetics, metabolism and distribution
- Acute Toxicity
- Irritation / corrosion
- Sensitisation
- Repeated dose toxicity
- Genetic toxicity
- Carcinogenicity
- Toxicity to reproduction
- Specific investigations
- Exposure related observations in humans
- Toxic effects on livestock and pets
- Additional toxicological data
Endpoint summary
Administrative data
Description of key information
Bulk calcium carbonate is an inorganic substance and does not undergo hydrolysis or biodegradation. In the environment, calcium carbonate will dissociate into calcium and carbonate ions.
Additional information
Calcium carbonate is an inorganic substance and therefore does not undergo hydrolysis or biodegradation. In the environment, calcium carbonate will dissociate into calcium and carbonate ions. These ions are naturally ubiquitous in the environment; calcium will be assimilated by species present in the water, soil or sediment and is necessary to maintain a good chemical balance in the environment and carbonate will become part of the carbon cycle.
Furthermore, calcium and carbonate ions are essential to all living organisms (flora and fauna) and their intracellular and extra-cellular concentrations are actively regulated. Therefore, bioaccumulation is not expected.
Studies in soil and sediment can not be performed due to the absence of an analytical test method that could distinguish between contributions to the analysed solution calcium concentration originating from the test material and that originating from the required soil/ sediment/ solution matrix. Even if the method guidelines were amended/deviated from and pure water was used as the aqueous phase for the soil/ sediment/ solution systems, a significant contribution of dissolved calcium would be expected in all samples due to the presence of calcium carbonate and other calcium salts as a naturally occurring mineral fraction in soils and sediments. Therefore, it would not be possible to distinguish between contributions to the analysed solution calcium concentration originating from the test material and that originating from the soils or sediments themselves.
Calcium carbonate presents only limited solubility in water and solubility characteristics are known to be sensitive to both solution pH and also the presence/partial pressure of carbon dioxide (which dissolves to give carbonate or bicarbonate ions). Therefore, changes with respect to aqueous phase pH and dissolved carbon dioxide concentrations on exposure to soils and sediments may lead to shifts in the relative solubility of the test material and potential precipitation and sedimentation on centrifugation of the samples; a process which can not be separated analytically from any true adsorption onto the soil or sediment phases.
The accumulation and mobility of calcium carbonate in soils has been documented in soil chemistry as the process of “calcification”. Calcification is the general process by which naturally occurring calcium carbonate or the product of dissolved calcium ions and either bicarbonate or carbonate ions (from dissolved carbon dioxide, the dominant form of the dissolved product being dependant on the solution pH) accumulates in soils. Most commonly, calcium carbonate accumulates in subsurface horizons of soils in subhumid, semiarid, or arid regions. Calcium carbonate has a propensity to leach through soil if water is applied, i.e. it does have some mobility through soil, providing sufficient water is present. As it moves downwards into layers where the water content is low, the leaching will stop. On this basis, calcium carbonate does not have a high potential for adsorption to soil. Likewise, the potential for adsorption of calcium carbonate to sediment is also expected to be low.
Information on Registered Substances comes from registration dossiers which have been assigned a registration number. The assignment of a registration number does however not guarantee that the information in the dossier is correct or that the dossier is compliant with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation). This information has not been reviewed or verified by the Agency or any other authority. The content is subject to change without prior notice.
Reproduction or further distribution of this information may be subject to copyright protection. Use of the information without obtaining the permission from the owner(s) of the respective information might violate the rights of the owner.