FISHERY WASTE EFFLUENTS: A METHOD TO DETERMINE 

 RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND AND RESIDUE 



Jeff Collins and Richard D. Tenney' 

 ABSTRACT 



Researchers and the fishing industry have experienced difficulty in applying the Environmental 

 Protection Agency's standard tests to industrial fishing waste effluents, especially for total suspended 

 and settleable solids, and oil and grease. 



The relationship between chemical oxygen demand and residue was determined on a limited number 

 of samples from four types of screened waste effluents from November 1973 to September 1974: shrimp 

 using fresh or salt water processing, snow crab, and canned salmon. In addition to chemical oxygen 

 demand and residue, tests for settleable solids, total suspended and settleable solids, oil and grease, 

 protein, and salt were also performed. Based on these relationships, a method is suggested to develop a 

 system for the analysis of pollutants that will be more economic and give more meaningful data than 

 currently obtainable under Environmental Protection Agency's methods. The method requires that 

 base data on a plant be obtained to relate chemical oxygen demand with residue values using regression 

 lines and equations. A subsequent routine monitoring program need only test for total residue and 

 chemical oxygen demand of the filterable residue. Substitution into the equations gives the other 

 residue fractions and their chemical oxygen demand values, i.e., total chemical oxygen demand, 

 chemical oxygen demand of the particulate matter, filterable residue, and nonfilterable residue. 



This laboratory has modified and studied in detail 

 a number of analytical techniques to measure 

 pollutants (Tenney)^. We have considered the 

 methods of testing specified by the Environmental 

 Protection Agency (EPA) to monitor fishery pol- 

 lutants and are of the opinion that the monitoring 

 program and analytical methods specified under 

 the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination 

 System (NPDES) program could be improved for 

 application to seafood-processing effluents 

 (Pojasek 1975). The purpose of this paper is to 

 suggest different tests for monitoring efl^uents 

 with certain prerequisites that would satisfy the 

 intent of the law, yet recognize both the technical 

 and economic problems associated with the fishing 

 industry's efforts to comply with the monitoring 

 regulations. 



Since laboratory space, equipment, and labor 

 necessary to conduct a waste-monitoring program 

 are quite expensive to the fishing industry, eco- 

 nomics suggest the use of a minimum number of 

 tests to do the job, and where possible, the use of 



Pacific Utilization Research Center Kodiak Utilization Re- 

 search Laboratory, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, 

 P.O. Box 1638, Kodiak, AK 99615. 



^Tenney, R. D. 1972. COD for Industrial Waste Water, Tech. 

 Rep. 97, 5 p.; 1972. Chemical Oxygen Demand, Tech. Rep. 101, 12 

 p.; 1973. Shrimp Waste Streams and COD, Tech. Rep. 104, 3 p. 

 Unpublished, intralaboratory reports, Kodiak Utilization Re- 

 search Laboratory. 



inexpensive equipment. In some analyses, the 

 time required to complete any analysis is impor- 

 tant, as in the 5-day test for biological oxygen 

 demand (BOD). In this instance, the chemical test 

 (chemical oxygen demand-COD) provides quick 

 results and has better application. The limited 

 level of laboratory experience and equipment 

 generally found in seafood-processing plants and 

 their diverse and often remote locations also 

 suggest that the regulations and permit system 

 should reflect these limitations and require only 

 fairly simple tests to measure pollutants. At the 

 same time, however, analytical techniques used to 

 measure pollutants must be accurate, have good 

 precision, and be a meaningful measure of pollu- 

 tants. 



In this study we have evaluated the relationship 

 between COD and residue of the screened eflfluents 

 of four plants. Based on these correlations, a 

 monitoring system is suggested that enables the 

 results of two analyses to provide data on six 

 pollutant parameters. 



EXPERIMENTAL 



Identification and Definition of Terms 



BOD {Biochemical oxygen demand): oxidation 

 by bacteria. 



Manuscript accepted April 1976. 



FISHERY bulletin! VOL. 74, NO. 4, 1976. 



725 



