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Bodlabanalysis 160409173344 PDF
Bodlabanalysis 160409173344 PDF
Bodlabanalysis 160409173344 PDF
Experiment # 6
Group #1
Jonathan Damora
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Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to perform a Biochemical Oxygen Demand test on primary clarifier
effluent from a wastewater treatment plant to determine a BOD versus time curve. This curve can then
be used to determine the Ultimate BOD of the wastewater sample and the rate constant for its decay.
Introduction
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a representation of dissolved oxygen content in relation to the
speed at which bacteria aerobically decompose, oxidize, organic matter within a sample . Thus it is a
method of defining the strength of wastewater, which itself depends on the level of easily
biodegradable organic matter within a given sample. If there is dissolved oxygen present and organic
matter that can be oxidized by bacteria, the organic matter will be decomposed by the bacteria
aerobically until the oxygen is low enough that anaerobic bacteria becomes dominant. BOD testing was
developed over 100 years ago, with one of the earliest standardizations of BOD testing on sewage
coming from the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal in 1912, which states their regulations on BOD
of effluent at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. BOD testing has since been standardized at 20 oC.
The testing of BOD is important throughout many fields, as BOD is listed as a conventional pollutant in
the Clean Water Act, passed in 1972. It is used to measure the effectiveness of a wastewater treatment
plant, the pollutional strength of industrial wastewater, and is commonly used as a measure of the
strength of any fresh water sample or purification strength of a body of water. The United States uses
BOD to manage the quality of secondary treatment, which is expected to remove 85% of BOD measured
in the sewage and produce effluent that has a 30-day average BOD below 30 mg/L and a 7 day average
BOD below 45 mg/L. Industrial pre-treatment of wastewater uses BOD to both determine the level and
type of treatment needed. If the BOD to COD ratio is greater than .4 or .5 then biological treatment of
the wastewater is possible, as long as there are no biological toxins present. The industrial BOD testing
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may require the addition of seed bacteria, as there may be no living bacteria present depending on the
BOD testing specifically measures the dissolved oxygen concentration at different points to determine
the rate at which oxygen is used. The metabolism of organic compounds by bacteria can be represented
by the below equation, with the bacteria acting as the host for the oxidation of organic compounds to
CO2, water, and ammonia. In this case the organic compound is oxidized by oxygen.
Aerobic decomposition is not the only source of oxygen demand within a sample, as there are
chemoautotrophic bacteria nitrifying ammonia, ammonium, and nitrite into nitrate. This splits a
measurement of BOD into carbonaceous BOD (cBOD) and nitrogenous BOD (nBOD), unless a nitrification
inhibitor is used, such as the 2-chloro – 6- (trichloro methyl) pyridine used in this experiment. Usually
for a BOD5 test done at 20 oC the small number of nitrifying bacteria present do not add significantly to
the oxygen demand, but our experiment goes to 9 days which allows the population of nitrifying
bacteria to grow to an appreciable level. The demand due to nitrifying bacteria is not considered as
important in determining pollution strength as cBOD since nBOD does not involve metabolism of org anic
matter. Other interferences include bio-inhibition from toxins, non-bioassimilable organic matter, and
The values obtained by a BOD test are used to determine the ultimate BOD of the wastewater sample
and the rate constant for its decay. These factors arise from empirical studies of the decay of
biodegradable matter in wastewater, which show that it usually follows first order kinetics. This means
specifically that the rate at which organic matter is oxidized depends on the amount of organic matter
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present. Thus the BOD at a specific time, t, can be calculated from
the above equation once ultimate BOD and the rate constant, k, are determined.
Procedure
To perform our BOD test we made 48 identical 300-mL BOD bottles containing 8 mL of settled
wastewater (primary clarifier effluent) and 292 mL of a solution containing: aerated distilled water,
ferric chloride, magnesium sulfate, calcium chloride, a phosphate buffer, and the nitrification inhibitor
(2-chloro – 6- (trichloro methyl) pyridine). The other chemicals are added to provide nutrients and
buffer pH in order to facilitate bacterial growth. These bottles were then placed into the BOD incubator
at 20 oC except for 4 of the bottles which are used to determine the initial DO concentration using the
Winkler titration technique. The DO concentration is determined each day for 9 days, except the 6th and
8th day, with each day’s titration being replicated using 6 separate BOD bottles with the DO being
The DO concentration is determined using the Winkler Titration technique outlined here . First we
added 1 mL of manganese (II) sulfate and alkali-iodide-azide solution respectively to our BOD bottle and
thoroughly mixed it. A brown precipitate is formed in the presence of dissolved oxygen, or a white
precipitate of Mn(OH) 2 is formed in the absence of DO. If there is no DO, then the process is complete
since the purpose is to test the concentration of DO. If there is oxygen and a brown manganese
precipitate forms, add 1mL of sulfuric acid and mix thoroughly. The brown precipitate dissolves and the
Iodide ion (I -) is converted to iodine. Titration is then performed using a sodium thiosulfate solution and
a starch indicator, with the DO concentration equal to the volume of sodium thiosulfate used. As stated
above, these steps to determine DO concentration were replicated up to 6 times each day and average
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Results
BOD-Time Curve
300.00
250.00
200.00
BOD (mg/L)
150.00
100.00
50.00
0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ti me (days)
0.25
(t/BOD)^(1/3)
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Ti me (days)
The intercept of the best fit line for Figure 2 is 0.2065 and the slope is 0.0151, thus
Along with the k value determined above I will plug t and BOD at each time. The results are tabulated in
The BOD in the above table was calculated using this equation, . Where D1 is
the initial DO concentration, D2 is the DO at time t, P is equal to the decimal fraction of wastewater (8ml
wastewater / 300ml BOD bottle volume), and BOD is the calculated BOD at time t.
Discussion
The results fit what was expected from a sample containing organic pollutants. The BOD-time curve
displays the distinctive plateau as the microbial population shifts towards predominantly protozoa
predation and then increases again as the dead protozoa cells are decomposed by more bacteria. The k
value of 0.191 is around the expected value, although slightly higher, which means that decompositi on
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occurred rapidly and there was not any biological growth inhibitors present. The ultimate BOD result of
250.5 mg/L is possibly misleading since there is much debate over the use of first order chemical kinetics
on BOD. When using BOD = BODo (1-e -kt) the ultimate bod value is much higher, around 450-550 mg/L.
And when using the method given in Snoeyink and Jenkins’ Water Chemistry, the Ultimate BOD is 594.
The higher values seem more likely since the BOD-time curve shows that the BOD is climbing again at
day 9. There is most likely no nitrification interference due to the nitrification inhibitor added. It is
possible that other interferences occurred, such as microbial inhibition, although unlikely since the
Discussion Questions
1. What are the applications of BOD test data? Discuss BOD test limitation in terms of the
biodegradability of wastes.
BOD testing gives data that shows the relative organic strength of that water sample as well as the
decay rate of said organic matter. BOD testing is applicable throughout industrial and public wastewater
treatment. The US Government has even put regulations on the General Pollutant, BOD, within the
effluent discharged from wastewater treatment plants. For example, testing the BOD of wastewater
prior to treatment and then again after treatment will tell you the efficacy of your treatment process, in
terms of organic pollutional strength. BOD testing attempts to focus specifically on oxidation of organic
compounds using oxygen, but there are many different forms of bacteria that use different oxidizing
agents. For example, there are species of bacteria that oxidize ferric iron into ferrous iron. The BOD
results cannot show you exactly what contributed to the DO demand, thus it is difficult to determine
whether there is any interferences that contributed to your data other than the biodegradation of
organic waste.
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2. What purposes are served by ferric chloride, magnesium sulfate, phosphoric acid, ammonium
Ferric Chloride is used as a coagulant to settle suspended solids, as well as being an important mineral in
aerobic processes. Magnesium Sulfate is a common form of the mineral Magnesium. Phosphoric acid is
used as a pH buffer to ensure it stays constant, as well as a way to add phosphate to the solution which
allows any ferric oxide within the solution to be precipitated out as ferric phosphate. Ammonium
Chloride is used to buffer the pH of the solution. Calcium Chloride adds bioavailable calcium ions into
3. How do the BOD results relate to COD data from previous Lab?
We could compare the ration of BOD/COD to determine the level of oxygen demand from metabolism
of organic products, which would give us an indication whether biological treatment would be efficient
to use on the wastewater. The wastewater in the previous lab gave a COD value of approximately 415
mg/L, and this experiment determined that the BOD of the wastewater was 250.5, thus the ration of
BOD to COD is .6, if the two samples are from the same source. This means that biological treatment
would still be effective on this water. The COD test was much less time consuming but gave less
detailed data.
4. List the major factors influencing the rate of biological oxidation in the BOD test.
The major factors for BOD testing are of course first of all the test parameters, meaning the organic
matter present and the dissolved oxygen concentration. Then the largest factors on BOD results are
nitrifying bacteria, since they will increase the demand for DO, and toxic compounds or residual chlorine
from treatment, which will inhibit microbial life within the sample thus lowering BOD results incorrectly.
Other factors include the pH of the sample, which effects the equilibrium of many reactions and changes
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species concentration, temperature of the sample and the presence of certain non-assimilable organic
material such as wood pulp, which will increase demand for DO.
Conclusion
BOD testing is a useful way to determine the level of biological activity and the concentration of organic
matter that is useful to microorganisms. The long testing time detracts from the attraction of this test
over COD, since it focuses specifically on the organic matter that bacteria can decompose. Despite its
limitations it is clear that BOD testing is essential as it allows us to quantify organic pollution within a
water sample, without expensive chromatography or other methods used to determine composition.
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Works Cited
Snoeyink, Vernon L., and David Jenkins. Water Chemistry. New York: Wiley, 1980. Print.
"Winkler Titration Technique." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 Mar.
2014.
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