BOD and COD experiment

Prepared by: Mahmoud Mohamed

ID: 141761
ABSTRACT
It is required to perform BOD, and COD tests on the given sample of wastewater in order to
determine the water quality. BOD and COD tests give are not quantitative tests but a rough
indication of how contaminated is the water by the organic materials. BOD test is based on
measuring an initial value using BOD meter then after a period of time in an incubator the final
value of BOD is measured. On the other hand, COD test is performed by leaving the mixture of
potassium dichromate on a heater for some time in an acidic medium the titration is made. By
calculations, BOD, and COD are estimated to be 34.2 mg O2/L, and 460 mg O2/L.

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CONTENTS
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 2

1 introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4

1.1 BOD ................................................................................................................................. 4

1.1.1 BOD definition.......................................................................................................... 4

1.1.2 How the test is performed? ....................................................................................... 4

1.1.3 The outcome of the BOD test ................................................................................... 4

1.1.4 BOD measurement .................................................................................................... 5

1.1.5 Problems of BOD measurement. .............................................................................. 5

1.2 COD ................................................................................................................................. 5

1.2.1 COD definition.......................................................................................................... 5

1.2.2 How COD is measured ............................................................................................. 6

2 Procedures ............................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 BOD Test.......................................................................................................................... 7

2.2 COD test ........................................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Equipment used. ............................................................................................................... 8

2.4 Materials used .................................................................................................................. 8

3 Results v .................................................................................................................................. 9

3.1 BOD results ...................................................................................................................... 9

3.2 COD results ...................................................................................................................... 9

4 Discussion ............................................................................................................................. 10

5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 11

6 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................... 12

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BOD

1.1.1 BOD definition

BOD stands for the expression biological oxygen demand which is considered from the chemical
tests that is used to determine the amount of the dissolved oxygen that is needed any organic bio-
organism present in water that needs oxygen in respiration process (aerobic bio-organisms) in
order to convert any organic substance inside the water by breaking them into simpler products at
specific temperature for specific amount of time. (Britannica, 2011)

1.1.2 How the test is performed?

The BOD test is not considered from the quantitative tests which are performed to determine
certain amount or concentration of a material. However, BOD test is just made in order to
determine the organic quality of the water. The test targets determining how much milligrams of
oxygen are consumed by the bio-organisms per one litre of the given sample. BOD test requires
certain temperature of 20⁰C in a duration of five days in an incubator. Therefore, the test could be
considered as a rough indication of the organic pollutants level in the water sample. (Britannica,
2011)

1.1.3 The outcome of the BOD test

The BOD has direct effects on the amount of the dissolved oxygen in water sources as rivers such
that the pH, temperature, the type of the bio-organisms, and the type of the materials present in the
water whether organic or inorganic affect the rate of the oxygen consumption. As the value of the
BOD becomes greater, the faster the decrease of the amount of oxygen in the water stream. This
is an indication that the amount of oxygen that will be available for the aquatic life is becoming
lesser, thus, disturbances in the aquatic system as death of the creatures. The biochemical oxygen
demand has some sources such as the leaves, wastewater of chemical plants and food production
plants, topsoil, and animal manure. (Biochemical Oxygen Demand - BOD, 2019)

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1.1.4 BOD measurement
In order to determine the BOD, two measurements are taken in which an initial value of BOD is
measured, and the final value is taken at the end of the period of incubation. (Biochemical
Oxygen Demand - BOD, 2019)

1.1.5 Problems of BOD measurement.

For measuring the BOD, BOD meter is utilized in which the probe connected to the meter is
immersed in the flask containing the wastewater sample, and the value of BOD appears on the
screen on the meter. In order to obtain accurate results, it must be acknowledged that the device is
calibrated, the probe sensor has fresh electrolyte, membrane as well as anode and cathode, and
finally, warm-up time of the probe of 5-15 minutes before calibration. (Biochemical Oxygen
Demand - BOD, 2019)

Figure 1 BOD meter (Waterproof Portable Dissolved Oxygen and BOD Mete, 2018)

1.2 COD

1.2.1 COD definition

Chemical oxygen demand or COD is defined as the amount of oxygen needed in order to oxidize
the organic waste present in water chemically. In other words, COD could be defined as the
measurement of the rate of oxygen decrease in a water sample containing organic contaminants.
(What is Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) Analysis?, 2017)

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1.2.2 How COD is measured
The chemical oxygen demand is considered as wet chemical analysis such that potassium
dichromate is added to the wastewater sample in order to oxidize the organic waste in the presence
of an acidic catalyst sulphuric acid and heat. The mixture is left heated for two hours then the
mixture is ready for titration as an indirect measure of the consumed oxygen by estimating the
electrons used in the reduction of Cr6+ to Cr3+ . spectrophotometry could be used as an alternative
method to titration. (What is Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) Analysis?, 2017)

Figure 2 Procedure chart of COD

(Chemical Oxygen Demand, 2014)

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2 PROCEDURES

2.1 BOD TEST

1. 50 ml of waste water is added to a 300ml BOD bottle in which the rest of the bottle is
completed with distilled water.
2. The initial amount of dissolved oxygen is measured at the beginning.
3. The BOD bottle is put in an incubator at and left for 5 days at a temperature of 20⁰C.
4. The BOD is measured again after the 5 days.

2.2 COD TEST

1. 10 ml of wastewater, 10 ml of potassium dichromate, and 5 ml of sulphuric acid in a flask.

2. The flask is put on a heater to raise the temperature to 150⁰C in order to start the reaction.
3. After half an hour, leave the mixture to cool down in which the excess of potassium iodide
is added to react with the remaining potassium dichromate in which brown colour is
observed which means iodide is converted to iodine.
4. Using starch as an indicator (2-3ml), the mixture is titrated using sodium thiosulphate until
the colour changes from dark blue to light blue which is the end point.

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2.3 EQUIPMENT USED.

1. Conical flask.
2. Incubator.
3. Heater.
4. BOD bottle.
5. Burette.

2.4 MATERIALS USED

1. Wastewater.
2. Distilled water.
3. Sulphuric acid
4. Potassium dichromate.
5. Sodium thiosulphate.
6. Starch.
7. Potassium iodide.

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3 RESULTS V

3.1 BOD RESULTS

Initial value of oxygen amount = 10 mg/l

Final value of oxygen amount = 4.3 mg/l

Flask contents volume = volume of wastewater + volume of distilled water

Volume of distilled water = 250ml

Volume of wastewater = 50 ml

𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 50 1

Dilution factor = = =
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 250 +50 6

𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛−𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 10−4.3

BOD = = 1 = 34.2 𝑚𝑔/𝑙
𝑑𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟
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3.2 COD RESULTS

𝑁 (𝑠𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑜𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑝ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒) ×𝑉 ×𝐸𝑞.𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 0.1 ×11.5 ×8 ×1000

COD = 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑣𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒
= 20
= 460 𝑚𝑔/𝑙

V = volume of titration = 11.5 ml

𝑣𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 = 20 𝑚𝑙

𝑀𝑤𝑡 (𝑜𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛) 16
Eq. weight = = = 8 𝑔 𝑒𝑞
𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 2

Normality (N) = 0.1 N

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4 DISCUSSION

The calculated values of BOD, and COD are compared to the standard value which indicates the
quality of water, and the limits of these properties from different sources. Firstly, the BOD
standards are as the following values:

1 → 2 mg O/L very clean.

3 → 5 mg O/L moderately clean.

> 5 mg O/L near pollution source.

Therefore, the tested sample is probably coming from very polluted source.

(Oram, 2014)

On the other hand, the COD values differ according to the source of wastewater, such that water from
industrial plants should be discharging water of COD not more than 120 mg/L, however, exception for
some plants as food from starch factories, paper factories, and textile factories are permitted to discharge at
a value of 400 mg/L. Another example, is the pig farms water should be discharged at range of 300 → 400
mg/L. Therefore, the value of COD of the given sample is exceeding the limits stated in the examples above.
(Chapman, 1992)

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5 CONCLUSION
BOD and COD tests are very important tests in estimating the quality of water which determines
what will be the use of this water and to what extent the water should be treated in order to be
suitable for a certain use. Experiments are made to obtain an estimate of the water quality or an
approximate estimation of the amount of the organic contaminants in the water. The concept of
these tests is based on oxygen depletion either by the bio-organisms or by the chemicals. The
results were compared to standard values that indicate how clean is the water or the limits of the
discharge of the wastewater of sources as the industrial plants.

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6 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Biochemical Oxygen Demand - BOD. (2019). Retrieved from YSI:
https://www.ysi.com/parameters/biochemical-oxygen-demand-bod

Britannica, T. E. (2011, 10 11). Biochemical oxygen demand. Retrieved from Encyclopædia

Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/science/biochemical-oxygen-demand

Chapman, D. (1992). Water Quality Assessments - A Guide to Use of Biota, Sediments and
Water in Environmental Monitoring. WHO .

(2014). Chemical Oxygen Demand. Delhi: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

Oram, B. (2014). Water Quality Terms GLOSSARY. Retrieved from Water Reasearch Center:
https://water-research.net/index.php/glossary

Waterproof Portable Dissolved Oxygen and BOD Mete. (2018). Retrieved from Hanna
Instruments : https://hannainst.com/hi98193-waterproof-portable-do-bod-meter.html

What is Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) Analysis? (2017, 3 1). Retrieved from Mantech :
https://mantech-inc.com/blog/chemical-oxygen-demand-cod/

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