A rapid physical-chemical method for the determination of readily biodegradable soluble COD in municipal wastewater

Abstract A rapid physical-chemical method has been developed for the determination of the readily biodegradable portion of influent soluble COD. The method involves removal by flocculation and precipitation of colloidal matter that normally passes through 0.45 μm membrane filters. Results from four domestic wastewaters demonstrated that the physical-chemical method and the biological method (Ekama et al. , 1984) gave virtually identical results. The physical-chemical method was used successfully to measure the quantity of truly soluble organic matter removed in the anaerobic zone of bench-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal activated sludge systems.