Oxygen demand

As stated earlier, the presence of oxygen is essential for the livelihood of

organisms. The aerobic action continues only till the oxygen is present in
wastewater, and after that anaerobic actions begins resulting in putrefaction.
Thus, oxygen is demanded in wastewater for the oxidation of both inorganic as
well as organic matter. Thus demand of oxygen may be expressed in the
following ways:

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)

Chemical oxygen demand (COD)
Total oxygen demand (TOD)
Theoretical oxygen demand (ThOD)

In addition to these, the amount of organic matter present may also be

determined by the total organic carbon (TOC) test.
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is a measure of the oxygen required to
oxidize the organic matter present in a sample, through the action of
microorganisms contained in a sample of wastewater. It is the most widely
used parameter of organic pollution applied to both wastewater as well as
surface water. The BOD may be defined as the oxygen required for the
microorganisms to carry out biological decomposition of dissolved solids or
organic matter in the wastewater under aerobic conditions at standard
temperature.
The BOD test results are used for the following purposes:
Determination of approximate quantity of oxygen required for the
biological stabilization of organic matter present in the wastewater.
Determination of size wastewater treatments facilities
Measurement of efficiency of some treatment processes
Determination of strength of sewage
Determination of amount of clear water required for the efficient disposal
of wastewater by dilution
The organic matter present in wastewater may belong to two groups:
Carbonaceous matter
Nitrogenous matter
(*Wastewater Engineering, Punmia*)
Chemical oxygen demand (COD)
The chemical oxygen demand is defined as the number of oxygen equivalents
required to oxidize organic materials in water. In the conventional method, a
strong oxidant such as dichromate is added to the water sample to digest the
organic matter whereas the remaining oxidant is determined titrimetrically by
using FeSO4 as the titrant.

(*Enviromental Analysis by Electrochemical Sensors and Biosensors, Springer*)