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COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)

1. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is used to indirectly measure organic compounds in water and wastewater, and is expressed in mg/L. 2. COD levels are highest in plant influent (300-700 mg/L) and decrease through treatment (5-15 mg/L in advanced treatment effluent). 3. There are two methods to measure COD - titration, which takes 2 hours, and spectrophotometry, which uses light absorption measurements and standard samples to calculate COD concentrations in samples.

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113 views

COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)

1. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) is used to indirectly measure organic compounds in water and wastewater, and is expressed in mg/L. 2. COD levels are highest in plant influent (300-700 mg/L) and decrease through treatment (5-15 mg/L in advanced treatment effluent). 3. There are two methods to measure COD - titration, which takes 2 hours, and spectrophotometry, which uses light absorption measurements and standard samples to calculate COD concentrations in samples.

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COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)

Introduction :
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) test is commonly used to indirectly measure
the amount of organic compounds in water. Most applications of COD determine
the amount of organic pollutants found in surface water (e.g. lakes and rivers) or
wastewater, making COD a useful measure of water quality. It is expressed in
milligrams per liter (mg/L) also referred to as ppm (parts per million), which
indicates the mass of oxygen consumed per liter of solution.
The normal range of COD found in various types of domestic wastewater :

Source COD range ( mg/l)


Plant influent 300-700
Primary effluent 200-400
Trickling filter effluent 45-130
Activated Sludge effluent 30-70
Advanced wastewater treatment effluent 5-15

The advantages of the COD test as compared to the BOD test are :
1-COD test results are available in less time ( 2 hours ) 2-The
COD test requires fewer manipulations of the sample.
3-The COD test oxidizes a wider range of chemical compounds .
4-It can be standardized more easily .

Purpose :
To measure COD in a sample by :
1- Titration Method.
2- Spectrophotometer Method .

Tools :
1-Cylinders
2-Beakers
3-pipette
4-Potassium Dichromate ( K2Cr2O7 )
5-Firrous Ammonium Sulfate ( (NH4)2Fe(SO4)2·6H2O ) ) (0.1M)
6-Ferrion
7-Spectrophotometer
8-Sulfaric Acid Reagent ( H2SO4+AgSO4) 9-Distelled
water.

Method A : Titration :

Procedure:
1- prepare the samples as :
-The blank sample : in a tube , add 2.5 ml Distilled water , then 1.5 ml of potassium
dichromate , then 3.5 of sulfuric acid reagent.
-In other 5 tubes :
Add 2.5 ml Sample , then 1.5 ml K2Cr2O7 , then 3.5 ml of sulfuric acid reagent.

2-put these tubes in a digester ( 150 C for 2 hours )

3-Titration Step :
-Fill the burette with Ferrous Ammonium Sulfate ( FAS).
-Add 2 drops of Ferrion indicator
-Titrate the contents against FAS
-Continue the titration till the color changes to reddish brown

3-Calculate the COD concentration

Calculations :

A= 3 ml , V=2.5 ml
Sample 1 : B= 1 ml
COD= ( (3-1) * 0.1 * 8000 ) / 2.5 = 640 mg/l
Sample 2 : B=0.5 ml
COD= ( (3-0.5 ) * 0.1*8000)/2.5 = 800 mg/l Sample 3 :
B= 0.4 ml :
COD = (3-0.4)*0.1*8000)/2.5 = 832 mg/l
Sample 4 : B=0.3 ml
COD = ( (3-0.3)*0.1*8000)/2.5 = 864 mg/l
Sample 5 : B= 0 ml COD= ( (3-0)*0.1*8000)/2.5 = 960 mg/l Results :

Sample B ( ml ) COD ( mg/l )


1 1 640
2 0.5 800
3 0.4 832
4 0.3 864
5 0 960

Discussion :
Having a small volume of FAS for samples indicates high COD concentrations , and these
values indicate that the wastewater used in this experiment is maybe a domestic or
processing industries wastewater .

Method B : Spectrophotometer : spectrophotometry is


the quantitative measurement of the reflection or transmission properties of a
material as a function of wavelength. [1] It is more specific than the general term
electromagnetic spectroscopy in that spectrophotometry deals with visible light,
near-ultraviolet, and near-infrared, but does not cover time-resolved
spectroscopic techniques.

Spectrophotometry uses photometers that can measure a light beam's intensity


as a function of its color (wavelength) known as spectrophotometers. Important
features of spectrophotometers are spectral bandwidth, (the range of colors it can
transmit through the test sample), and the percentage of sample-transmission,
and the logarithmic range of sample-absorption and sometimes a percentage of
reflectance measurement.

A spectrophotometer is commonly used for the measurement of transmittance or


reflectance of solutions, transparent or opaque solids, such as polished glass, or
gases. However they can also be designed to measure the diffusivity on any of
the listed light ranges that usually cover around 200 nm - 2500 nm using different
controls and calibrations.[1] Within these ranges of light, calibrations are needed
on the machine using standards that vary in type depending on the wavelength of
the photometric determination.[2]

An example of an experiment in which spectrophotometry is used is the


determination of the equilibrium constant of a solution. A certain chemical reaction
within a solution may occur in a forward and reverse direction where reactants form
products and products break down into reactants. At some point, this chemical
reaction will reach a point of balance called an equilibrium point. In order to
determine the respective concentrations of reactants and products at this point, the
light transmittance of the solution can be tested using spectrophotometry. The
amount of light that passes through the solution is indicative of the concentration of
certain chemicals that do not allow light to pass through.

The use of spectrophotometers spans various scientific fields, such as physics,


materials science, chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology.[3] They are
widely used in many industries including semiconductors, laser and optical
manufacturing, printing and forensic examination, as well in laboratories for the
study of chemical substances. Ultimately, a spectrophotometer is able to
determine, depending on the control or calibration, what substances are present
in a target and exactly how much through calculations of observed wavelengths.

Procedure :
Step 1 :
-1st sample : in a tube , add 1 ml of COD sample and complete to 50 ml of D.W
-2nd sample : in a tube , add 2 ml of COD sample and complete to 50 ml of D.W
-3rd sample : in a tube , add 3 ml of COD and complete to 50 ml of D.W
-4th sample : in a tube , add 4 ml of COD and complete to 50 ml of D.W
-5th sample : in a tube , add 5 ml of COD and complete to 50 ml of D.W Step 2 : in a
tube , add 2.5 ml of each sample prepared in the previous step , then 1.5 ml of
K2Cr2O7 , then 3.5 ml of sulfuric acid reagent
- the blank sample consists of : 2.5 ml of D.W then 1.5 ml of K2Cr2O7 , then 3.5 ml of sulfuric
acid reagent.
put these tubes in the digester ( 150 C for 2 hours )

Step 3 :
In 6 glass cells , add the samples and put them in the spectrophotometer to measure
the absorbance .

How to prepare standard samples :


1 ml ------- 500 Mg COD , 0.5 mg COD
50 ml cylinders

-wavelength for COD = 600 nm

Absorbance
0.08

0.07

0.06

0.05

0.04
Absorbance
0.03

0.02

0.01

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Results :

Standard sample concentration(mg/l) Abs.


10 0.003
20 0.007
30 0.019
40 0.023
50 0.024

Samples absorbance :
1- 0.057
2- 0.042
3- 0.035

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