Sensor for Rapid Determination of Oxygen Demand in Natural water

Real-time monitoring of organic compounds in water and wastewater is important for management of pollution levels. Current verification measurements relating to the nutrient content of the water cannot be done at frequent intervals or on-site, for example biological oxygen demand (BOD5) yields slow results (five days); another standard method, chemical oxygen demand (COD), uses hazardous chemicals and does not provide information directly relevant to ecological pollution. The objective of this is to develop a low-cost, field deploy¬able and real-time monitor to characterize the solution constituents and to assess water quality for management of pollution levels. This monitor will generate on site quick response with a handheld instrument and probe which can be deployed from a variety of platforms (e.g., small research vessel, submersible probe, or an in-line installed monitor). An important aspect of the proposed work is benchmarking the new measurement technique for simultaneously and directly measuring biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) in both freshwater and marine environments.