There are several common methods to test wastewater and drinking water for organic pollutants, natural and chemical. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and, Total Organic Carbon (TOC) compromise the three main methods of testing water samples. BOD and COD methods differ from TOC because they measure the amount of oxygen that is depleted by organic species in water. Moreover, TOC is a measure of all carbon (both organic and inorganic), rather than the oxygen that is reduced by these species. As written by a TOC manufacturer, “TOC on its own sheds no light on the oxidizability of the measured carbon or the amount of oxygen needed for its biodegradation.” Specific to COD, it measures the reactive fraction of the TOC. This is also known as oxidizability in the European Union.
View the full article: Comparison of COD, BOD and TOC Methods for organics, which summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the COD, BOD and TOC methods, and compares them to the PeCOD method.
