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BOD
The oxygen content of water samples stored in
a full, airtight bottle decrease with time
owing to the oxidation of
organic matter by microorganisms

Excretions of aquatic biota, water-soluble
humus compounds and industrial,
domestic and agricultural effluents

BOD is an empirical determination of the
amount of oxygen required to oxidize the
organic matter in the sample
2
BOD
Determined by incubating the water sample
with aerobic microorganisms under
specific conditions of time and
temperature

BOD
5
is based on a 5-day incubating
period at 20
o
C

BOD = (initial DO final DO) mg/L

3
UBOD
4
BOD
BOD
5
does not represent the total BOD,
since the biological oxidation of organic
matter takes a lot longer than 5 days to
go to completion
95-99% of the reaction is complete after
20 days
The BOD test is widely used to
determine the pollution strength of
wastewater and the quality of receiving
surface waters

5
Classification of surface water
quality based on BOD values
Degree of pollution BOD
5
(mg/L O
2
)

Very clean
Clean
Moderately polluted
Polluted
Very polluted
< 1.0
1.1 1.9
2.0 2.9
3.0 3.9
> 4.0
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BOD - METHODOLOGY
The water sample is diluted with a suitable
volume of oxygen-saturated water
containing nutrients and incubated in the
dark for 5 days at 20
o
C
The DO concentration is determined
before and after incubation and BOD
5
is
calculated by difference
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MATERIALS FOR BOD ANALYSIS
o All the reagents required for the DO test
by the Winkler method
o BOD incubation bottles: 250 mL capacity
o Air incubator or water bath at 20 1
o
C
place in the dark
o Phosphate buffer solution
o Calcium chloride solution
o Magnesium sulfate solution
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MATERIALS FOR BOD ANALYSIS
Ferric chloride solution
Dilution water
HCl 1:1
NaOH 6M
pH meter and electrode

NOTE : DISCARD ANY OF THE
REAGENT SOLUTIONS IF THEY SHOW
SIGNS OF BACTERIAL GROWTH
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SAMPLING & STORAGE FOR
BOD ANALYSIS
Collect 0.5 1 L of sample
The test should be started as soon as
possible after sampling
Otherwise, store at 3-5
o
C in a refrigerator
for up to 24 h.
Bring the sample to 20
o
C before starting
the test

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BOD ANALYSIS
Measure the pH of the sample, and adjust
to pH 7-8 using HCl or NaOH. If the pH is
between 6.5 & 8 do not adjust.
The recommended dilution
raw sewage : 30-100 times dilution
purified effluent : 3-10 times dilution
polluted river water : 1-5 times dilution

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BOD ANALYSIS
Completely fill three 250 mL BOD bottles
with the diluted solution, ensuring that no
air bubbles are trapped
Determine the DO in one bottle
immediately using the Winkler method
Stopper the other two bottles, water-seal,
place in the air incubator and incubate in
the dark for 5 days at 20
o
C. After 5 days,
determine the DO using the Winkler
method


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BOD ANALYSIS
Fill 3 bottles with dilution water in the same way.
Determine DO in one bottle immediately and the
other after incubating for 5 days
This dilution water blank serves as a rough
check on the quality of the dilution water and it
should not exceed 0.2 mg/L
Calculate the BOD = F (D
i
D
f
)
D
i
is the initial DO in the diluted sample
D
f
is the DO in diluted sample after 5 days of
incubation
F is the dilution factor

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COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)
A measure of the oxygen equivalent of the
organic matter in the sample that is
susceptible to oxidation by a strong
oxidizing agent.
BOD determines compounds that can be
biologically oxidized, COD measures
those substances which can be chemically
oxidized.
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METHODOLOGY-COD
o The sample is refluxed with excess
potassium dichromate in concentrated
sulfuric acid for 2 h.
o This oxidizes most of the organic matter in
the sample
o Silver sulfate is included as a catalyst to
speed up the oxidation process
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METHODOLOGY-COD
o After digestion, the unreacted dichromate
remaining in solution is titrated with ferrous
ammonium sulfate:
Cr
2
O
7
2-
+ 6Fe
2+
+ 14H
+
2Cr
3+
+ 6Fe
3+
+
7H
2
O
The amount of dichromate consumed is
calculated and the oxidisable organic
matter is reported in term of oxygen
equivalent
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COD analysis
COD (mg/L O
2
) = 8000 x M x (V
1
V
2
)/V
s
V
1
is the volume of ferrous ammonium
sulfate titrant used to titrate the blank (mL)
V
2
is the volume of ferrous ammonium
sulfate titrant used to titrate the sample
(mL)
V
s
is the volume of sample (mL)
M is the exact concentration of ferrous
ammonium sulfate titrant (M)