The biochemical oxygen demand test (BOD) is used for determining the r
elative oxygen requirements of municipal and industrial wastewaters ba
sed upon the organic matter present. The procedure measures the dissol
ved oxygen consumed by microbial life, which assimilates and oxidizes
the organic matter. The test, like many environmental monitoring assay
s, is time-consuming, tedious, and has simple chemistries, making it a
n excellent candidate for automation. This report describes the automa
tion of the BOD assay using a laboratory robot and the validation and
implementation of the automated system into a environmental testing la
boratory. A Zymate II Laboratory Automation System (Zymark Corporation
, Hopkinton, MA) was used to automate the BOD analysis. Application of
the system to environmental standards (commercial reference demand st
andards and Glucose/Glutamic Acid standards) as well as comparison to
assays performed on routine samples using an established manual proced
ures verified that the system provides accurate and reliable BOD assay
results.