Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
The Water Environment Federation (WEF) is a not-for-profit technical and educational organization of 35,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations representing water quality professionals around the world. Since 1928, WEF and its members have protected public health and the environment. As a global water sector leader, our mission is to connect water professionals; enrich the...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count152
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
The WEF Technical Practice Committee (formerly the Committee on Sewage and Industrial Wastes Practice of the Federation of Sewage and Industrial Wastes Associations) was created by the Federation Board of Control on October 11, 1941. The primary function of the Committee is to originate and produce, through appropriate subcommittees, special publications dealing with technical aspects of the broad...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count205
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition


PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count851
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition


PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count180
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition


PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count214
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Rodger B. Baird is Manager of Laboratories for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, where he has worked in laboratory supervision and management for more than 30 years. His primary interests have been in wastewater reclamation and reuse, ocean monitoring, and environmental toxicology, and he has coauthored more than 80 publications and conference presentations. He holds a...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count451
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Marlene Patillo graduated from Austin Peay State University in 1981 with a BS in chemistry and biology. She started her environmental career as a laboratory director for the City of Memphis T. E. Maxon Wastewater Treatment Plant. Her career includes environmental research, developing manuals and training courses, pilot-plant studies, teaching environmental seminars, and developing...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count376
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
The protection of streams, lakes, rivers, and the oceans from pollution is one of the major tasks of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Although there are many sources of pollution, man-made sources are overwhelmingly the most devastating. Under the authority of the Clean Water Act, the U.S. EPA has instituted a system of permits, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count600
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is one of the fundamental concepts in wastewater treatment. The beginnings of the concept can be traced to Forchamer in 1849, who studied the oxidation of wastewater with potassium permanganate. Through the rest of the 1800s and the 1900s, BOD has been exhaustively...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count734
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Analysis of many problems is generally simplified by putting it into historical perspective. (Walker, 1971)
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count8,573
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
The putrescibility, or relative stability, test arose in the late 1890s and early 1900s as an empirical procedure to determine if a wastewater effluent is satisfactorily neutralized or purified. It consists of sealing a small portion of the wastewater in a bottle and then incubating it for a period of time, 24 hours being common. After incubation,...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count3,526
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Oxygen was discovered by Scheele in 1771 and independently by Priestly in 1774. The latter is generally credited in textbooks with the discovery. In 1857, Brodie advanced the opinion that oxidation of organic material in polluted water was the way to purify the water, but that oxygen dissolved in the water was not a significant source of oxidation...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count16,260
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Many people perform the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) test as a cookbook exercise without having an understanding of the processes that are taking place during the test. Fundamental research into the mechanics of the test and its relation to biological waste treatment processes have been occurring since the late 1800s; however, even more than 100...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count17,994
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
The theory of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is still evolving. Perhaps a more descriptive title for this chapter could be “Mathematical Methods for BOD Modeling and Prediction.” However, the word “theory” is preferred as it connotes that the subjects touched on here lie more often in the realm of conjecture than...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count18,746
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
No other subject will cause a better argument than biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Why? Because this determination is apparently subject to more variations and discrepancies due to, as yet, unknown causes than any other test used in the sewage works laboratory (Eldridge, 1933).
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count27,207
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
There has been a realization that a deeper understanding of the processes involved in treatment of wastewater and industrial wastes can be gained by methods, which unlike the standard 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) test, do not give a single numerical answer, but rather a continuous picture of the whole (biological) process (Jenkins, 1960).
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count21,199
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
The major alternates to the dilution bottle biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) technique are the use of respirometers, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and related techniques, and total organic carbon (TOC)....
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count6,946
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Most persons who use and are familiar with the dilution bottle biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) test are well acquainted with the interpretation of the test results as a measure of the strength (waste load) of the sample, that is, how much time and...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count11,911
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
The idea of studying the oxygen demand of solids has been around almost as long as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) studies on wastewater effluents have been reported. Two types of solids are most frequently brought to mind when waste treatment is...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count6,210
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is a measure of the amount of oxidant, in terms of oxygen, that is required to neutralize a sample of wastewater. The term “neutralize” is used intentionally to imply the complete conversion of all elements in the sample to their respective combustion (oxidation) products. A COD-like test using permanganate...
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count19,034
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition
Carbon is present in samples in one of three forms: elemental (charcoal), inorganic (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbonates, and bicarbonates), and organic. Elemental carbon is essentially inert to biological organisms and is not considered further here.
PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count11,122
Description: Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition


PublisherWater Environment Federation
Word count3,096
Third Century of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 2nd Edition