Abstract
COD (chemical oxygen demand) has historically been considered to be an estimate of organic matter, and though this is no longer the case, for most kinds of water it is still a fair approximation. Landfill leachates may, however, be one of the exceptions. Landfill leachate contains many inorganic substances and, in certain circumstances, high concentrations of volatile organic compounds like acetic acid; the COD value may be affected by these conditions. Designed experiments were performed to determine how COD could be affected by the composition of landfill leachates. The factors studied include the content of iron(II), manganese(II), sulphide, ethanol, acetic acid, ammonia, and chloride as well as different aspects of the COD analysis design. The results show that up to about one-third of COD may be due to the inorganic components of leachates. The main conclusion from the experiments is that COD cannot be used solely as a measure of the organic matter of landfill leachate since inorganic substances as well as interactions between substances may interfere with the COD results.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
APHA, AWWA and WEF: 1995, ‘5220 Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)’, in Eaton, Clesceri and Greenberg (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, American Public Health Association (APHA), Washington, U.S.A., pp. 5-12-5-16.
APHA, AWWA and WEF: 1998, ‘5220 Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)’, in Clesceri, Greenberg and Eaton (eds), Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, American Public Health Association (APHA), Washington, U.S.A., ISBN 0-87553-235-7, pp. 5-13-5-18.
Baker, R. J., Milke, M.W. and Mihelcic, J. R.: 1999, ‘Relationship between chemical and theoretical oxygen demand for specific classes of organic chemicals’, Water Research 33(2), 327-334.
CEN: 1995, ‘Water Quality - Determination of Permanganate Index’, European Standard Method ISO 8467:1993. European Committee for Standardization, Brussels.
Christensen, T. H.: 1982, ‘6. Leachate’, in Notes About: Sanitary Landfills ‘(6. Perkolat’ in Noter om: Kontrollerede lossepladser) Teknisk forlag a-s, Danske Ingeniørers Efteruddannelse, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ehrig, H.: 1989, ‘Leachate Quality’, in T. H. Christensen, R. Cossu and R. Stegmann (eds), Sanitary Landfilling: Process, Technology, and Environmental Impact, Academic Press Limited, London, pp. 213-229.
Horii, Y., Arimoto, K., Kawanishi, T., Higuti, S., Shimaoka, T., Matsufuji, Y. and Hanashima, M.: 1997, ‘Leachate Desalination by using Electrodialysis’, in Christensen, Cossu and Stegmann (eds), '97), S. Margheritha di Pula, Cagliari, Italy, 13-17 October 1997, CISA (Environmental Sanitary Engineering Centre), Cagliari, Italy, pp. 475-482.
Lagerkvist, A., Ejlertsson, J. and Svensson, B.: 1993, ‘Degradation of Xenobiotics in Household Waste by Dehalogenating Microorganisms’, Environmental Biotechnology, Part-project B1.3. The Nordic Industrial Fund, ISBN 82-91374-06-6.
Robinson, H. D. and Gronow, J. R.: 1993, ‘A Review of Landfill Leachate Composition in the U.K.’, in Christensen, Cossu and Stegmann (eds), '93: Fourth International Landfill Symposium, 11-15 October 1993, S. Margherita di Pula, Cagliari, Italy, CISA (Environmental Sanitary Engineering Centre), Cagliari, Italy, pp. 821-832.
Sardinia: 1997, Proceedings of Sixth International Landfill Symposium, S. Margheritha di Pula, Cagliari, Italy, 13-17 October 1997. Christensen, Cossu and Stegmann (eds), CISA (Environmental Sanitary Engineering Centre), Cagliari, Italy, Vols. I-V.
SIS: 1991, ‘Water investigations - Determination of chemical oxygen demand of waters - CODCr oxidation with dichromate’ ‘(Vattenundersökningar - Bestämning av kemisk oxygenförbrukning hos vatten - CODCr oxidation med dikromat)’ Swedish standard SS 02 81 42, 2nd relief. SIS (Standardiseringskomissionen i Sverige).
Umetri: 1998, Introduction to Design of Experiments, Umetri AB, Umeå, Sweden.
Umetri: 1999, Modde 5.0, Umetri AB, Umeå, Sweden.
Vogel, F., Harf, J., Hug, A. and Von Rohr, P. R.: 2000, ‘The mean oxidation number of carbon (MOC) - A useful concept for describing oxidation processes’, Water Research 34(10), 2689-2702.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kylefors, K., Ecke, H. & Lagerkvist, A. Accuracy of COD Test for Landfill Leachates. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 146, 153–169 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023925508322
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023925508322