In Korea, the chemical oxygen demand(CODsed) in freshwater sediments has been measured by the potassium
permanganate method used for marine sediment because of the absence of authorized analytical method. However, this method has not been fully verified for the freshwater sediment. Therefore, the use or modification of the potassium permanganate method or the development of the new CODsed analytical method may be necessary. In this study, two modified CODsed analytical methods such as the modified potassium permanganate method for CODMn and the modified closed reflux method using potassium dichromate for CODCr were compared. In the preliminary experiment to estimate the capability of the two oxidants for glucose oxidation, CODMn and CODCr were about 70% and 100% of theoretical oxygen demand(ThOD),respectively, indicating that CODCr was very close to the ThOD. The effective titration ranges in CODMn and CODCr were 3.2 to 7.5 mL and 1.0 to 5.0 mL for glucose, 4.3 to 7.5 mL and 1.4 to 4.3 mL for lake sediment, and 2.5 to 5.8 mL and 3.6 to 4.5 mL for river sediment, respectively, within 10% errors. For estimating CODsed recovery(%) in glucose-spiked sediment after aging for 1 day, the mass balances of the CODMn and CODCr among glucose, sediments and glucose-spiked sediments were compared. The recoveries of CODMn and CODCr were 78% and 78% in glucose-spiked river sediments, 91% and 86% in glucose-spiked lake sediments, 97% and 104% in glucose-spiked sand, and 134% and 107% in glucose-spiked clay, respectively. In conclusion, both methods have high confidence levels in terms of analytical methodology but show significant different CODsed concentrations due to difference in the oxidation powers of the oxidants.
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