Total Organic Carbon and Its Future as a Regulatory Tool for Monitoring and Reporting

Oral Presentation

Prepared by C. Jackson, R. Leggett
Hach Company, 5600 Lindbergh Drive, Loveland, CO, 80539, United States


Contact Information: cjackson@hach.com; 970-669-3050


ABSTRACT

With the banning of hexavalent chrome (a key reagent in dichromate COD tests) by the European Economic Union in 2017 and the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Secondary Treatment Rule, Sampling and Test Procedures at 40 CR 133.104 which allows for the substitution of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), the future of alternative oxygen demand (OD) methods and TOC as regulatory tools for monitoring and reporting are being received globally with great interest.

This presentation provides an in depth look at typical OD methods and their statistical correlation to each other and with TOC. Case studies will be presented contrasting the differences in OD and TOC results from typical wastewater treatment plants. Results of these case studies will be used to suggest pathways to transition from BOD and COD to TOC for monitoring and regulatory reporting.