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Refinements to the BOD Test
Author(s) -
TYERS R. G.,
SHAW R.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.1989.tb01542.x
Subject(s) - biochemical oxygen demand , nitrification , chemical oxygen demand , oxygen , environmental science , biochemical engineering , environmental engineering , chemistry , wastewater , engineering , nitrogen , organic chemistry
For about eighty years the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) has remained one of the major indicators of organic pollution in the water industry. Whilst many adaptations and refinements have been made over the last 2–3 decades, one of the most significant was to suppress nitrification by the addition of allylthiourea (ATU) at 0.5 mg/1, thus ensuring that only carbonaceous oxidation was measured. Evidence has accrued to show that, for some situations, this concentration is insufficient to fully suppress nitrification. Poor stability is a problem with biochemical oxygen demand when samples have to be stored prior to analysis, and a method of storage is proposed which minimizes instability. As an empirical bioassay procedure, the accuracy of BOD can be poor compared with alternative methods such as chemical oxygen demand; and problems with incubator and refrigerator temperatures, the preparation of standards, and replacement batteries for dissolved‐oxygen probes are discussed. The aim of this paper is to show that these problems with biochemical oxygen demand can be eliminated, thereby retaining confidence in its use.