ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

Lab 3
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
 Table of Contents

Objective .................................................................................................................................... 3

Theory ........................................................................................................................................ 3

Materials .................................................................................................................................... 3

Result ......................................................................................................................................... 3

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 5
Objective
To learn to perform a BOD5 test of an influnt wastewater collected from the Northwest Mesa
Wastewater Treatment Plant

Theory
DO is the dissolved oxygen in the water sample at any particular time.

The dilution factor and the BOD5 can be calculated as

𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑚𝐿)

𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 =
𝐵𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (300 𝑚𝐿)

𝑚𝑔 𝐷𝑂𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 − 𝐷𝑂𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
𝐵𝑂𝐷5 ( )=
𝐿 𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟

Materials
 300 ml BOD bottles
 Large glass or plastic bottle with siphon
 DO meter
 Graduated cylinders or serological pipettes
 Phosphate buffer
 Magnesium sulfate solution
 Calcium chloride solution
 Ferric Chloride solution
 Ammonium chloride solution

Result
The DO measurements and the BOD calculations are as follows:

Table 1: DO measurements

Group Volume WW (mL) Initial DO (mg/L) DO after 5 days (mg/L)

2 7.4 6.1
1 2 7.2 8.1
2 7.8 8.0
3 8.9 7.3
2 3 9.3 7.4
3 9.3 7.4
4 9.4 6.8
3 4 9.7 6.6
4 9.2 7.5
5 11.0 14.4
4
5 11.2 14.4
 5 11.7 14.4
7.5 8.5 5.5
5 7.5 9.0 5.9
7.5 9.3 5.1
10 6.7 1.3
6 10 7.0 3.0
10 7.0 1.4
12.5 9.4 0.7
7 12.5 9.2 0.5
12.5 9.1 0.5
15 9.0 0.0
8 15 9.1 0.0
15 9.4 0.0

For Group 4,

𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (𝑚𝐿)

𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 =
𝐵𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (300 𝑚𝐿)

5
=
300
1
=
60
𝑚𝑔 𝐷𝑂𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 − 𝐷𝑂𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙
𝐵𝑂𝐷5 ( )=
𝐿 𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟

Since, for the Group 4, the DO-final is greater than the DO-initial, which is not possible as
the BOD will become negative. So, it has been thought that data had been interchanged, so
the DO-final was assumed as DO-initial and vice versa.

Trial 1

𝑚𝑔 14.4 − 11.0
𝐵𝑂𝐷5 ( )=
𝐿 1/60

= 204 𝑚𝑔/𝐿

Trial 2

𝑚𝑔 14.4 − 11.2
𝐵𝑂𝐷5 ( )=
𝐿 1/60

= 192 𝑚𝑔/𝐿

Trial 3
 𝑚𝑔 14.4 − 11.7
𝐵𝑂𝐷5 ( )=
𝐿 1/60

= 162 𝑚𝑔/𝐿
204+192+162
Therefore, the average 5-day BOD = mg/L
3

= 186 mg/L

(𝑥 ′ −𝑥)2
The standard deviation of the 5-day BOD = √ 𝑁

= 17.66 mg/L

Final DO vs Volume
16.0

14.0

12.0
Final DO (mg/L)

10.0

8.0

6.0

4.0

2.0

0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Volume of sample (in mL)

Figure 1: Plot of Final DO vs Volume of sample

The peak in the Final-DO vs Volume of the sample plot at 5 mL shows that 5 mL is the
critical volume of the sample to measure DO.

Conclusion
The typical 5-day BOD of wastewater is from 5-8 mg/L, whereas the BOD of this wastwater
sample is 186 mg/L which is much high. This shows that the water is very polluted. This
shows the high organic content in the water.