The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	The effects of pressure on the kinetics and mechanisms of the bod reaction
Author:	Sereico, Peter
View Online:	njit-etd1984-017 (xiv, 236 pages ~ 5.7 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Degree:	Doctor of Engineering Science
Program:	Environmental Engineering
Document Type:	Dissertation
Advisory Committee:	Dresnack, Robert (Committee chair) Trattner, Richard B. (Committee member) Cheng, Su Ling (Committee member) Kristol, David S. (Committee member) Cheremisinoff, Paul N. (Committee member) Olenik, Thomas J. (Committee member)
Date:	1984
Keywords:	Biochemical oxygen demand. Sewage--Analysis.
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The research was concerned with the kinetics and mechanisms of BOD reduction due to pressurization. The initial investigations involved attempts to reproduce and interpret the results of previous investigators. Thereafter, actual wastewater samples were pressurized and changes in the wastewater characteristics were analyzed and recorded. Based on the findings, possible mechanisms for creating the changes noted were proposed. To test the mechanisms considered, samples of pure compounds were prepared and pressurized. The results of this analysis eliminated all of the mechanisms but the actual one. The mechanism responsible for changes in BOD profile under pressure conditions is the hydrolysis of large molecular weight organic molecules into smaller fractions. Specific members of these families were analyzed and BOD changes and kinetic data were recorded. The final phase of the research involved the preparation of composite synthetic wastewater samples subjected to pressure, and analyzing the similarities in their responses to pressure compared to that of actual wastewater samples.