Applications

Water Quality

Measures of Water Quality

Some of the Most basic and Important Measures
Dissolved Oxygen Biochemical Oxygen Demand Solids Nitrogen Bacteriological

Dissolved Oxygen (DO)

Typically Measured by DO probe and Meter
Electrochemical Half Cell Reaction

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

Amount of oxygen used by microorganisms to decompose organic matter in a water
Theoretical BOD can be determined by balancing a chemical equation in which all organic matter is converted to CO2
Calculate the theoretical oxygen demand of 1.67 x 10-3 moles of glucose (C6H12O6): C6H12O6 + O2 CO2 + H2O general, unbalanced eqn

C6H12O6 + 6 O2 6 CO2 + 6 H2O 1.67x 10-3moles glucose/L x 6 moles O2/ mole glucose x 32 g O2/mole O2 = 0.321 g O2/L = 321 mg O2/L

BOD Test
Dark
20oC Time
Standard 5 days
Ultimate

BOD = I - F
I = Initial DO F = Final DO

If all the DO is used up the test is invalid, as in B above

To get a valid test dilute the sample, as in C above. In this case the sample was diluted by 1:10. The BOD can then be calculated by: BOD = (I F) D D = dilution as a fraction
D = volume of bottle/(volume of bottle volume of dilution water)

BOD = (8 4) 10 = 40 mg/L

For the BOD test to work microorganisms have to be present. Sometimes they are not naturally present in a sample so we have to add them. This is called seeding a sample If seed is added you may also be adding some BOD. We have to account for this in the BOD calculation: BOD = [(I F) (I F)(X/Y)]D

Where: I = initial DO a bottle with only dilution water and seed F = final DO of bottle with only dilution water and seed X = amount of seeded dilution water in sample bottle, ml Y = amount of seeded dilution water in bottle with only seeded dilution water

Example
Calculate the BOD5 of a sample under the following conditions. Seeded dilution water at 20oC was saturated with DO initially. After 5 days a BOD bottle with only seeded dilution water had a DO of 8 mg/L. The sample was diluted 1:30 with seeded dilution water. The sample was saturated with DO at 20oC initially. After five days the DO of the sample was 2 mg/L. Since a BOD bottle is 300 ml a 1:30 dilution would have 10 ml sample and 290 ml seeded dilution water. From the table, at 20oC, DOsat = 9.07 mg/L BOD5 = [(9.07 2) (9.07 8)(290/300)] 30 = 174 mg/L

If we do a mass balance on the BOD bottle: dz/dt = -r

Where: z = dissolved oxygen necessary for the microorganisms to decompose the organic matter

If r is first order: dz/dt = -k1 t

Separate the variables and integrate: z = z0 e-k1 t

Z is defined as the amount of oxygen still to be used by the microorganisms to degrade the waste. If we define y to be the amount of oxygen which already been used to degrade the waste:

L=z+y

L = ultimate demand for O2

So:

z=L-y

By substitution:

L y = z0 e-k1 t
But zo = L, so:

y = L Le-k1 t
Or y = L(1-e-k1 t)

y = L(1-e-k1 t) Rearranging:
(t/y)1/3 = (1/(k1 L)1/3) + (k12/3/(6 L1/3)) t y So: = b + m x

k1 = 6 (slope/intercept)
L = 1/(6 (slope)(intercept)2)

Example
From a BOD test we have the following data:

Time, Days 2 4 6

BOD, mg/L 10 16 20
Slope = 0.545
Intercept = 0.021 k1 = 6(0.021/0.545) = 0.64 day-1 L = 1/[6(0.021)(0.545)2] = 26.7 mg/L

Nitrogenous Oxygen Demand

Solids
Total Solids Residue on evaporation at 103oC
TS = (Wds Wd)/V
Where: Wds = weight of dish plus solids after evaporation Wd = weight of dish alone V = volume of sample

Total Solids can be divided into two fractions: Suspended Solids

Suspended solids are the solids that can not pass through a glass fiber filter with a 0.45 micron pore opening

Dissolved Solids
Dissolved solids are the solids that can pass through a glass fiber filter with a 0.45 micro pore size

Suspended solids
SS = (Fdf Fd)/ V
Where: Fdf = weight of the Filter plus dry filtered solids Fd = weight of the clean, dry filter V = volume of sample

Volatile and Fixed Solids

Volatile solids are the solids that are volatilized at 600oC Fixed solids are the solids that remain after heating to 600oC

Generally the volatile solids are considered to be the organic fraction of the solids.
Volatile Solids = Total Solids Fixed Solids

Nitrogen
Organic Nitrogen

Ammonia
Organic Nitrogen + Ammonia = Kjeldahl Nitrogen

Nitrates + Nitrites (NO3-, NO2-)

Microbiological Measurements
Waterborne Pathogens

Salmonella (typhoid fever) Shigella (bacillary dysentery) Hepatitus virus Entameoba Histolytica (ameobic dysentery Giardia Lamblia (bever fever) Cryptosporidium

Indicator Organisms
coliforms
MPN test