Evaluation of 60‐Milliliter BOD Bottle Tests

Abstract

The nonstandard 60 ml incubation bottle was compared to the standard 300 ml bottle for biochemical oxygen demand tests for 16 pairs of duplicate samples. One test used the 60 ml bottle and the duplicate test used the 300 ml bottle. Statistical tests indicate that 5 day and ultimate biochemical oxygen demand and the specific rate constants were not significantly different for the 16 pairs of tests. The samples were collected from river water influenced by urban and rural runoff, urban drainage, and the effluent of a primary wastewater treatment plant. Factors such as strength and characteristics of the carbonaceous material and bacterial seed may not have been adequately factored into the experiment.