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 H2S, 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 CO2
 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: Y t = 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 @ 25°C is 200 mg/L. The reaction
constant k is 0.23/d.