CIVIL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

UITM PAHANG, KAMPUS JENGKA

COURSE NAME
COURSE CODE
OPEN-ENDED LAB
SEPTEMBER 2018 – JANUARY 2019

TITLE OF : BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND

EXPERIMENT
DATE OF : 22/11/2018
EXPERIMENT
GROUP :
GROUP MEMBERS : 1.Yusuf Iskandar Bin Azmi (2016471736)
2.Muhammad Haiqal Bin Sahlan (2016472846)
3.Mohamad Syazani Bin Mohd Sarwan (2016472992)
4.Muhammad Fadhly Bin Mohd Saidi (2016278842)
5.Ahmed Fareez Bin Ali Musa (2016472686)
LECTURER : Madam Siti Hawa Binti Rosli
LEVEL OF OPENESS : 1

NO ELEMENT COPO Marks COMMENTS

1 INTRODUCTION

2 BASIC CONCEPT

SUMMARY OF
3
PROCEDURES/METHOD
ANALYSIS AND
4 2 4 6 8 10
INTERPETATION OF DATA

5 DISCUSSION OF RESULT 2 4 6 8 10

6 CONCLUSIONS 2 4 6 8 10

TOTAL MARKS /30

 LAB REPORT SELF-ASSESMENT

√ (If VERIFIED
ITEM Available) AND
NO DETAILS
(LEVEL) BY TEAM
LEADER
COMMENTS
BY
LECTURER
1. Introduction of results
2. Right data collected form experiment
3. Value of data relate to objectives
4. Analysis of data with caption
ANALYSIS AND  Average 3 data
INTERPETATION  Pattern or trend
1 OF DATA
(LEVEL 1 & 2)  Graph
 Tables
 Equations
 Sample calculation
5. SI unit
1. Introduction of discussion
2. Explain direct relationship of
variables
3. Explain the results means
4. Comparison of results to standard
DISCUSSION OF
2 RESULT value (BS/ASTM/current practice)
(LEVEL 0 & 1) 5. State the value of error to standard
value
6. Implication of results
7. Error of experiment
8. Precaution
1. Explain finding based on objective
2. Answer objective of the experiment
CONCLUSION
3
(LEVEL 0 & 1) 3. Percentage of data error
4. Future recommendation
INTRODUCTION

Biochemical oxygen demand or BOD is a chemical procedure for determining the

amount of dissolved oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to
break down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a
specific time period. It is not a precise quantitative test, although it is widely used as an
indication of the organic quality of water. It is most commonly expressed in milligrams of
oxygen consumed per litre of sample during 5 days (BOD5) of incubation at 20°C and is
often used as a robust surrogate of the degree of organic pollution of water.
BOD directly affects the amount of dissolved oxygen in rivers and streams. The rate
of oxygen consumption is affected by a number of variables: temperature, pH, the presence of
certain kinds of microorganisms, and the type of organic and inorganic material in the water.
The greater the BOD, the more rapidly oxygen is depleted in the stream. This means
less oxygen is available to higher forms of aquatic life. The consequences of high BOD are
the same as those for low dissolved oxygen: aquatic organisms become stressed, suffocate,
and die.
BOD is affected by the same factors that affect dissolved oxygen. BOD measurement
requires taking two measurements. One is measured immediately for dissolved oxygen
(initial), and the second is incubated in the lab for 5 days and then tested for the amount of
dissolved oxygen remaining (final). This represents the amount of oxygen consumed by
microorganisms to break down the organic matter present in the sample during the incubation
period.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this activity is:
 To determine biochemical oxygen demand in the given water sample.
PROBLEM STATEMENT

The presence of sufficient concentration of DO is critical to maintaining the aquatic

life and aesthetic quality of streams and lakes. Determining how organic matter affects the
concentration of DO in a stream is integral to water quality management. The decay of
organic matter in water is measured as biochemical or chemical oxygen demand, BOD.
Oxygen demand is a measure of the amount of oxidizable substances in a water sample that
can lower the DO concentration. The group is required to determine DO of the surrounding
water bodies for the determination of its qualities.
You are given a task to assess the DO and BOD of water and wastewater samples.

APPARATUS

 BOD incubator
 BOD bottles (3)
 1000 mL of beaker (3)
 Water sample (Pond water)
 Distilled water
PROCEDURE
Preparation of BOD Dilution Water
1. 1 mL each of the potassium phosphate, magnesium sulfate,calcium chloride,
and ferric chloride solutions per 1 L of dilution water.
2. BOD dilution water is stored in a clean container and useable up to 3 days.
BOD Experiment Procedures
1. 5 mL of water sample is pipet and poured into BOD bottle.
2. The BOD bottle is then filled with BOD dilution water until the maximum
capacity of 300 ml is reached.
3. The bottle is sealed by using stopper and inverted several times to remove
noticeable bubbles.
4. DO meter is switched on and the vibrated probe is cleaned with dilution water.
5. Stopper is removed and the vibrated probe is placed inside the BOD bottle and
it is switched on.
6. The stable DO concentration value is recorded. Take this value as DO0 (mg/L)
*Beep sound is produced from the DO meter, indicates the reading is stable and
can be recorded.
7. The BOD bottle is then sealed again with stopper and placed inside the BOD
incubator for 5 days.
8. DO5 is determined and recorded after 5 days of incubation by following step 4
and step 5.
9. BOD concentration is calculated based on the formula below:
BOD5 = DO0 - DO5
*P is the decimal volumetric fraction of sample used.
DATA

Table 1: The reading of DO and BOD concentration

Sample DO reading, mg/L BOD concentration
Before After 5 day
300 ml Tap water 3.26 5.31 -2.05

200 ml Tap water + 3.0 4.53 -2.295

100 ml distilled
water
300 ml River water 6.45 4.70 1.75

200 ml River water + 4.64 4.19 0.675

100ml distilled water
300 ml Pond water 7.48 5.74 1.74

200 ml Pond water + 4.8 4.74 0.09

100ml distilled water

Calculation.
𝐷𝑂0 − 𝐷𝑂5
BOD concentration = 𝑃
7.48 −5.74
BOD concentration for Pond water = 0.3/0.3

BOD concentration for Pond water = 1.74

DISCUSSION
Based on the experiment Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), need to obtain the
total oxygen amount that being uptake by bacteria from water when they oxidize organic
matter and it was expressed in mg/L. Organic matters that get into the waste water may either
being totally dissolved or suspended as particulate material. According to the information,
bacteria live and continuously growth in the sample of waste water when there is oxygen for
oxidation.

Based on the result, there were six groups that conduct this experiment for three water
sample which are river water, pond water and tap water. 300 ml of samples were put in three
airtight bottle where three other samples were added with 100 ml of distilled water and the
dissolved oxygen (DO) content of the samples were determined before and after five days of
incubation. The BOD was calculated from the difference between initial and final DO as
show in data. As the dilution of the samples increased, the concentration of dissolved oxygen,
DO fluctuated due to kept the sample of waste water for too long. The highest sample that
initially contains dissolve oxygen are pond water with 7.48 mg/L where the value drops to
5.74 mg/L after being kept in the incubator for 5 days. This shows that the reduction of
dissolved oxygen happened in the sample where microorganism uptake the oxygen. This can
be proven when low DO readings signify high oxygen demand from microorganisms, and can
lead to possible sources of contamination depending on the process.

From the observation, the highest BOD obtained is 1.75 mg/L for 300 ml river water.
This shows that river water contains lot of microorganisms that demand for oxygen to
consume which indicates that the river water is polluted. Therefore, a high BOD is an
indicator of low quality water.

However, there are still some error could happen in order to get a good result. Firstly,
organic matter in the water sample is continually oxidised by the microorganism. Therefore,
the sample should be preserved by cooling process in order to slower the rate of oxidation.
Secondly, we should also avoid extreme pH value and provide a neutral pH environment for
the microorganisms. This is because the microorganisms could be killed in an extreme pH
values environment.
CONCLUSION

REFERENCES
1. Donald L. Wilson, U. S. (2007). Laboratory procedures for determining the
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of incinerator quench water. Michigan: U.S.
Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Environmental
Health Service, Bureau of Solid Waste Management.
2. Groff, G. (2007). Effect of Chlorination on the Biochemical Oxygen Demand of
Sewage. Michigan: University of Michigan.
3. Paul A. Conrads, P. A. (2010). Simulation of temperature, nutrients, biochemical
oxygen demand, and dissolved oxygen. Michigan: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S.
Geological Survey.

APPENDIX
 Table 7: Assessment Rubrics for Technical Report
TECHNICAL REPORT
RUBRICS/Marks
NO ELEMENT
2 4 6 8 10
Little Some
No information Some Discussion the
information on discussion on
on discussion on purpose of
purposes, purpose of
purpose/objecti purpose of work with
1 Introduction objectives of work , missing
ves of work, no work and no relevant
work and no some
background background background
background information
information information information
information background
Able to identify Able to discuss Able to apply Able to Able to design
the basic the basic the basic analyzes the and evaluate
concepts of concepts of concepts of basic concepts the basic
Basic
2 respective respective respective of respective concepts of
concepts
laboratory laboratory laboratory laboratory respective
through through through through laboratory
formative test formative test formative test formative test through
and lab report and lab report and lab report and lab report formative test
and lab report
Able to design Able to design,
Unable to Able to design,
Able to design experiment, find Relevant
design find standard standard
the experiment find relevant
experiment and procedure and procedure and
with little standard
Summary of no explanations clear with clearly stated
explanations on procedure and
3 procedures/ on the precise with good
the procedures sufficient
methods procedures of explanations on explanations on
of conducting explanations of
conducting conducting conducting
experimental conducting
experimental experimental experimental
work experimental
work work work
work
Data collected
Data collected is relevant,
Data collected
Data collected Data collected is relevant, related to the
was not
Analysis and is relevant but is relevant and related to the objectives,
relevant and
4 interpretati not sufficient to sufficient to objectives and sufficient to
not sufficient to
on of data analyze and analyze and sufficient to analyze and
analyze and
interpret interpret analyze and accurate
interpret
interpret interpretation
of data.
 Discussion on Result and
results is very Little discussion Description of discussion are
on what result result is clearly stated,
difficult to
mean and generally clear. through
No discussion follow, no
implications of Some discussion on
on the meaning discussion on
results. Enough discussion on what results
Discussion of experimental the meaning of
5 errors are made what results mean and
of result results and very results and to be mean and implications of
difficult to information is distracting, but implications of results. Provide
follow so inaccurate some results. No consistently
that makes the information is significant accurate
report accurate errors are made information
unreliable
Conclusion is Conclusion is
Conclusion is
good and excellent and
good and
Conclusion is derived from derived from
No attempt was derived from
derived from the collected the collected
made to the collected
the collected and analyzed and analyzed
conclude and and analyzed
6 Conclusion and analyzed data and not data and not
objectives of data and not
data but it is from other from other
the lab were from other
not answering sources but did sources.
not answered sources and
the objectives not directly Conclusion
directly answer
answering the clearly answers
the objectives
objectives. the objectives.