BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND

• When biodegradable organic matter is released into a body of water, microorganisms,

especially bacteria, feed on wastes, breaking it down into simpler organic and
inorganic substances.
• When this decomposition takes place in an aerobic environment, the process produces
a non – objectionable, STABLE end products such as CO2, SO4, PO4 and NO3.
• This AEROBIC decomposition process is represented by the following reaction:
Organic matter + O2 CO2 + H2O + New cells + other stable products
• When insufficient oxygen is available, the resulting anaerobic decomposition is
performed by completely different microorganisms.
• They produce products that are highly objectionable, including H 2S, NH3, and CH4.
• This ANAEROBIC decomposition is represented by the following reaction:
Organic matter  CO2 + CH4 + New cells + other unstable products
• The CH4 (methane) produced is a potent greenhouse gas (called swamp gas when
emitted from bodies of water). When produced in excessive amounts such as in
landfills, it can be collected and used as an energy source.
• The amount of oxygen required by microorganisms to oxidize organic wastes
aerobically is called the BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD). BOD is most often
expressed as mg of Oxygen required per liter of wastes (mg/L) or ppm (parts per million)
• Oxidation of organics is slow and will require an extended period of time to go to
completion. As a result, it has become standard to simply measure and report the
oxygen demand over a shorter, restricted period of 5 days.
• The 5 – day BOD is the total amount of oxygen consumed by microorganisms during the
1st 5 days of biodegradation. It is estimated that oxidation of the organics in wastes is 60
– 70% complete in 5 days, and about 95 – 99% after 20 days.
• The 5 – day BOD test involves putting a sample of waste and diluted to 300 ml into a
stoppered bottle, measuring the concentration of DO in the sample at the beginning of
the test and again after 5 days of incubation. The difference in DO concentration is the
5 – day demand.
• The procedure is standardized to test at a temperature of 20°C
• The 5 – day BOD of a diluted sample is given by:
5 – day BOD = DOI - DOF(unseeded dilution water)
P
5 – day BOD = DOI - DOF - (BI - BF) f (seeded dilution water)
P
where: DOI - DO concentration in sample before incubation
DOF – DO concentration in sample after incubation
BI – DO concentration of blank (control) before incubation
BF – DO concentration of blank (control) after incubation
f – ratio of seed in sample to seed in control
P - decimal fraction of wastewater sample used. (vol. of wastewater)/(vol. of
dilution water plus wastewater)
Purposes of BOD measurement:
• To determine the approximate quantity of oxygen that will be required to biologically
stabilize the organic matter present
• To determine the size of waste treatment facilities
• To measure efficiency of some treatment processes
• To determine compliance with wastewater discharge permits
Limitations:
• Biochemical oxidation is a slow process and theoretically takes an infinite time to go to
completion
• Not a reliable measure of organic content of wastewater, only biodegradable organics
are measured and long period of time is required to obtain results.
• It has a variation of up to 20 ppm
 • Pretreatment is needed when dealing with toxic wastes and effects of nitrifying
bacteria must be reduced.
Types of BOD
1) NBOD – Nitrogenous BOD, BOD associated with the oxidation of NH3 to NO3-
• Nitrification must be suppressed using inhibitory agents
• Methods of suppression include pasteurization, chlorination and acid treatment
2) CBOD – Carbonaceous BOD, BOD associated with the oxidation of carbon to CO 2
• True BOD, the result of suppressed BOD
• BOD reactions are formulated in accordance to 1st order kinetics
• The amount of BOD remaining after time t is:
BODt =BODue-kt
• The amount of BOD that has been exerted after time t is:
Yt = BODu – BODt= BODu( 1- e-kt )
• Take note that 5 – day BOD is:
Y5 = BODu – BOD5 = BODu( 1- e-k5 )
• The typical value of k is 0.23/day at 20°C for polluted water
• For temperatures other than 20°C, k is determined from:
kT = k20θ(T-20)
where: θ = 1.056 (for T = 21 – 30° C)
= 1.135 (for T = 4 – 19° C)
• BOD PROBLEMS:
1) What is the BOD of a waste sample that yields an oxygen consumption of 2.0 mg/L
from a 1 % sample?
2) What sample size is required for a BOD of 30 mg/L if the oxygen consumed is limited to 6
mg/L?
3) In a BOD determination, 6 ml of wastewater is mixed with dilution water containing 8.6
mg/L of DO. After a 5 – day incubation at 20°C, the DO content of the mixture is 5.4
mg/L. Calculate the BOD of the wastewater sample. Assume that the initial DO of
wastewater is zero.
4) Determine the 1 - day BOD and the ultimate first stage BOD for a wastewater whose 5 –
day BOD @ 20°C is 200 mg/L. The reaction constant k is 0.23/d.
5) The 5-d BOD of a waste sample was found to be 40.0 mg/L. The initial oxygen
concentration of the BOD dilution water was equal to 9 mg/L, the DO concentration
measured after incubation was equal to 2.74 mg/L and the size of sample used was
equal to 40 mL. If the volume of the BOD bottle used was 300 mL, estimate the initial
DO concentration in the waste sample.
6) A tannery with a ww flow of 0.15 m3/s and a 5-d BOD of 650 mg/L discharges into the
Cattaraugus creek. The creek has a 10-yrs low flow of 1.7 m3/s. Upstream of the
tannery, the 5-d BOD of the creek is 0.6 mg/L. The BOD rate constant k are
0.115/d for the tannery and 3.7/d for the creek. Calculate the ultimate BOD
after mixing.