UNIVERSITY OF BAHRAIN

College of Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering

Wastewater & Sewage Laboratory Report

“Biochemical
Oxygen Demand”
Date : 8th of May, 2016

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*Aim :

To determine the BOD5 for polluted water.

*Procedure :

1. Representative samples of river water are

obtained beforehand using the sampling cylinder.
2. An estimate of the dilution required will be made
by the demonstrator.
3. Remove the requisite volume of sample in a pipette
and transfer to a BOD bottle containing a 50 mm depth
of dilution water. Care should be taken to avoid air
entrainment during this process.
4. Repeat as necessary for the required number of bottles.
At least two bottles of each dilution should be prepared;
3 would be butter.
5. Top up the bottle carefully with dilution water, again
avoiding air entrainment. Stopper and mix by inverting
several times.
6. Two BOD bottles should be filled with dilution water
only.
These blanks are used to correct for DO changes
caused the
dilution water itself.
7. Measure the DO concentration using the DO probe.
Top up the bottles with deaerated water and
restopper
making sure there are no air bubbles either under the
stoppers or attached to the walls.
8. Place the bottles in the incubator at 20°C.
9. One member of each group will return each day after 24 hours
(± 1 hour) to determine the DO concentration for each bottle.

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*Results & Calculations:

BODt = (DO0 – DOt) x DF

Where: BODt = BOD in mg/L at time ‘t’ (days) after the start of incubation.
DO0 = initial DO of diluted sample of time t=0 (i.e. prior to
incubation)
DOt = DO of sample after incubation for time t
DF = dilution factor = a + 1

Where: a = (volume of diluted water/volume of undiluted sample)

Raw Secondary

DO0 = 9.1 (mg/l) DO0 = 9.4 (mg/l)

DO1 = 8.3 (mg/l) DO1 = 9.1 (mg/l)
DO2 = 7.5 (mg/l) DO2 = 8.8 (mg/l)
DO3 = 7.0 (mg/l) DO3 = 8.4 (mg/l)
DO4 = 6.6 (mg/l) DO4 = 8.0 (mg/l)

a = 50 ml / 36 ml = 1.4 a = 50 ml / 43 ml = 1.2
DF = 1.4 + 1 = 2.4 DF = 1.2 + 1 = 2.2

BOD1 = 1.92 (mg/l) BOD 1 = 0.66 (mg/l)

BOD2 = 3.84 (mg/l) BOD 2 = 1.32 (mg/l)
BOD3 = 5.04 (mg/l) BOD 3 = 2.20 (mg/l)
BOD4 = 6.00 (mg/l) BOD 4 = 3.08 (mg/l)

**Sample of Calculation :
BOD1 = (9.1 – 8.3) x 2.4 = 1.92 (mg/l)

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*Conclusion :

In this experiment, we found that BOD in raw water is higher than that one in secondary
water, and that because the dissolved oxygen in raw water decreases much faster than
that one in secondary water. Therefore, the dilution factor in raw water is higher.