SAC₂₅₄ As An Oxygen Demand Predictor: The Relationship And Correlation Of Oxygen Demand Parameters And SAC

Oxygen demand is a vital parameter for determining the amount of organic pollution in water. Oxygen demand measurement is widely applied in monitoring waste loadings of treatment plants and in evaluating treatment effectiveness.

The parameters Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and Spectral Absorption Coefficient (SAC) are all ‘total parameters’ that measure very specific attributes of water pollution.

BOD measures organic substances that are accessible to microbial oxidation. The COD measurement indicates organic substances that are accessible to chemical oxidation. In contrast, TOC measures the total or complete organic content of the water.

Organic compounds dissolved in water, in general absorb UV light. For this reason, the measurement of UV absorption – the Spectral Absorption Coefficient (SAC) measurement – represents an independent total parameter for dissolved organic substances in water.