TITLE: Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

INTRODUCTION:

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is commonly used as a measurement of pollutants in natural

and wastewater such as sewage and industrial effluent waters. It is normally measured in both
municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants and able to give an indication of the
efficiency of the treatment process. COD is measured in both influent and effluent water
(before and after treatment) and the efficiency of the treatment process is normally expressed
as COD removal, measured as a percentage of the organic matter removed during the cycle.

OBJECTIVES:
 To measure the concentration of COD in water sample.
 To analyse data and interpret the results of the COD experiment.

APPARATUS/MATERIALS:
 COD reactor
 Spectrophotometer
 Pipette
 COD digestion reagent vials and COD standard solution

PROCEDURE:
1. A COD reactor and a spectrophotometer are turned on.
2. The COD reactor temperature is set 150oC.
3. Pre-prepared low range (3-50 ppm) or high range (20-50 ppm) vials are selected for the
COD test based on expected results. Both range can be used if expected results are
unknown.
4. One vial is marked as a “blank”.
5. 2 ml of liquid are added to other vial. In the case of the blank, 2 ml of distilled water
are added. 2 ml of each standard are added to the corresponding vial.
6. The vial is mixed well and placed into the reactor block for 2 hours. After 2 hours, the
vials are removed from the block to a cooling rack for about 15 minutes.
7. The spectrometer is set and calibrated.
8. The COD reading is taken.
TITLE : BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND

INTRODUCTION:
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), measures the amount of oxygen consumed by
microorganisms in decomposing organic matter in stream water. BOD also measures the
chemical oxidation of inorganic matter (i.e. the extraction of oxygen from water via chemical
reaction). The test is used to measure the amount of oxygen consumed by these organisms
during a specified period of time (usually 5 days at 20C). The rate of oxygen consumption in a
stream is affected by a number of variables: temperature, pH, the presence of certain kinds of
microorganisms, and the type of organic and inorganic material in the

OBJECTIVES:
 To measure the concentration of BOD in water sample.
 To analyze data and interpret the results of the BOD experiment.

APPARATUS/MATERIALS:
 Dilution water
 DO meter
 BOD bottle
 Dark incubator

PROCEDURE:
1. 300 ml BOD bottle is filled with 50 ml sample and the rest are filled with dilution water
with no air trapped.
2. A DO meter is used to measure the initial dissolved oxygen concentration.
3. The bottle is placed in dark incubator at 20oC for 5 days.
4. After 5 days, the DO meter is used again to measure a final dissolved oxygen.
5. The BOD reading is calculated as stated by formula below:
RESULTS:

COD (mg/L)
Blank 0
Sample 1 2
Table 1: COD readings

DISCUSSION:

COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) is used as a general indicator of water quality and is an
integral part of all water quality management programs. COD is often used to estimate BOD
(Biochemical Oxygen Demand) as a strong correlation exists between COD and BOD, however
COD is a much faster, more accurate test and as the advantage of COD is much faster in
conducting the experiment compare to COD which COD test takes only a few hours to
complete.

From the experiment, the objective which to obtain the concentration of COD in water sample
has been achieved. The source of water sample was collected at Tasik Seksyen 7, Shah Alam.
The COD tests used potassium dichromate as the oxidant. Potassium dichromate is a
hexavalent chromium salt that is bright orange in colour and is a very strong oxidant. Between
95-100% of organic material can be oxidized by dichromate. For this experiment we were using
low reagent as the source of water sample is not highly polluted while if the source of polluted
water such as from industrial, the high reagent was recommended.

The concentration of COD obtained for blank and standard was 0 and 2 mg/L respectively.
From the above result, the parameter of water sample is considered as level I which is less than
10 mg/l from the National Water Quality Index. It shows that the source of water can be uses
as conservation of natural environment and practically no treatment required but very sensitive
for aquatic species.

There are some precautions should be alert in this experiment. Firstly, samples must be mixed
well and measured quickly to avoid settling errors. The spectrophotometer must be warmed up
and zero using the reagent blank. If the volume of deionized water added to the reagent blank
is not 2.0 mL, the colour of the reagent blank will be either lighter or darker than expected.
Besides using this common method, we can apply other method in determination of chemical
oxygen demand such as photoelectrocatalysis of nanoporousTiO2 electrodes for more accurate
and short time test.

Parameter Classes
I II III IV V
COD < 10 10 – 25 25 – 50 50 – 100 > 100
value(mg/l)
Table 2: Classes in Malaysian Water Quality Index for Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

CLASS USES
Class I Conservation of natural environment.
Water Supply I - Practically no treatment
necessary.
Fishery I - Very sensitive aquatic species.
Class IIA Water Supply II - Conventional treatment.
Fishery II - Sensitive aquatic species.
Class IIB Recreational use body contact.
Class III Water Supply III - Extensive treatment
required.
Fishery III - Common,of economic value
and tolerant species;livestock drinking
Class IV Irrigation
Class V None of the above.
Table 3 : Water classes and uses Malaysian Water Quality Index
CONCLUSION:

As a conclusion, by using appropriate equipment and follow the proper steps, the objective of
the experiment was achieved which is to measure the concentration of Chemical Oxygen
Demand (COD) in water sample. COD used to decompose biodegradable and non-
biodegradable organism that cannot be decomposed by microbe only. The data obtained was
2mg/L and classified as level 1 which is good for natural environment.

REFERENCES:

 https://www.academia.edu/32962114/Chemical_Oxygen_Demand_COD_
 http://dwi.defra.gov.uk/research/completed-research/reports/dwi0060.pdf
 https://www.scribd.com/document/332366818/COD-Lab-Report-full

APPENDIX:

COD REACTOR SPECTROPHOTOMETER

RESULTS:

Parameters Results
DO(Initial) 7.20
DO(Final) 7.09
P 0.167
BOD5 , mg/L 0.66
Table 1: BOD results

DO against Days
7.22

7.2
Dissolved oxygen

7.18

7.16

7.14

7.12

7.1

7.08
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Days
DISCUSSION:
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) determination of wastewater, the biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) test measures the ability of naturally occurring microorganisms to
digest organic matter in a five day incubation at 20 oC by analyzing the depletion of oxygen.
This measures biodegradable organic matter. The sample is filled in an airtight bottle and the
dissolved oxygen (DO) content of the sample is determined before and after five days of
incubation. The BOD is calculated from the difference between initial and final DO as show in
the result.

The dissolved oxygen for initial for the following dilution became increased for the
samples. As the dilution of the sample increased, the concentration of dissolved oxygen, DO
decrease due to a high demanding of oxygen from microorganisms. But after five days of
incubation, DO final became decreased from the DO initial. This shows that the reduction of
dissolved oxygen happened in the sample where microorganisms uptake the oxygen. This can
be proven when low DO readings signify high oxygen demand from microorganisms, and can
lead to possible sources of contamination depending on the process.

The BOD5 level was calculated as shown in Table 1. The concentration of BOD that
obtained from experiment was 0.66 mg/L. From the above result, the water sample is
considered as Class 1 which is less than 1 mg/L from the National Water Quality Index. We
can say, the BOD for the sample became decreased as the dilution of the sample increased.
The lower the BOD value, the polluted the sample. A higher BOD indicates a high content of
easily degradable organic material in the sample. While, a low BOD indicates a low volume of
organic materials substances which are difficult to break down. In addition, a several dilutions
are to be used to ensure that at least one will deplete the oxygen content by about 50%. For
BOD value at least 2 mg/L of oxygen should be consumed with at least 1 mg/L remaining. If
this condition is not found in any of the dilutions used, a wider range of dilutions must be
selected for the examination of succeeding sample.

Parameter Classes

I II III IV V
BOD 1 3 6 12 > 12
value(mg/l)
Table 2: Classes in Malaysian Water Quality Index for Biochemical Oxygen Demand
(BOD)
 CLASS USES
Class I Conservation of natural environment.
Water Supply I - Practically no treatment
necessary.
Fishery I - Very sensitive aquatic species.
Class IIA Water Supply II - Conventional treatment.
Fishery II - Sensitive aquatic species.
Class IIB Recreational use body contact.
Class III Water Supply III - Extensive treatment
required.
Fishery III - Common,of economic value and
tolerant species;livestock drinking
Class IV Irrigation
Class V None of the above.
Table 3: Water classes and uses Malaysian Water Quality Index

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, the aim of this experiment was achieved by obtained the concentration of
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in water sample. Recorded data of BOD was 0.66mg/L
which can be classified as Class 1 since it was less than 1mg/L. Therefore the source of water
sample will not require any treatment. BOD is a quantity if oxygen that required by
microorganism to decompose biodegradable organism.

REFERENCES:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochemical_oxygen_demand
 https://realtechwater.com/parameters/biochemical-oxygen-demand/
 https://www.ysi.com/parameters/biochemical-oxygen-demand-bod

APPENDIX:

Dark Incubator