EFFECT OF SEED ON BOD PARAMETERS

Abstract

The BOD exertion phenomena in an aquatic ecosystem is a complex biochemical reaction between heterogeneous assemblage of biota and complex organic substrate. The effect of varying environmental conditions such as temperature, pH, presence of toxicants, etc. have been studied in great details over the years. The phases during the ROD exertion hat4ealso been studied in great detail. Various models representing' BOD kinetics have been proposed. Accordingly BOD parameters have been evaluated in the laboratory for various field applications. However, the effect of seed,which a waste would generally encounter during its biological treatment has not been studied so far. In the past, different parameters of BOD kinetics for an industriL waste have been estimated using a sewage seed. This has led to an erroneous estimate of BOD parameters much, different from that encountered in the field. This,inIturn has probably been a major reason for malfunctioning of various effluent treatment plants. The need was therefore felt to study the effect of seed on BOD parameters. Accordingly wastes and corresponding seeds from effluent treatment plants of four industries viz. Dairy, Distillery, Paper and Sugar were used for this study. Four models of BOD kinetics currently in use have been used to predict BOD parameters. Numerical methods have been used for computation of these parameters based on minimization of cumulation absolute proportionate error. The study revealed that there is a significant difference in BOO exertion with indigenous and sewage seeds.