Examining Synchronous Fluorescence Spectra of Dissolved Organic Matter for River BOD Prediction

하천수 BOD 예측을 위한 용존 자연유기물질의 synchronous 형광 스펙트럼 분석

Fluorescence measurements of dissolved organic matter (DOM) have the superior advantages over other analysis tools for the applications to water quality management due to their rapid analysis. It is known that protein-like fluorescence characteristics are well corelated with microbial activities and biodegradable organic matter. In this study, potential biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) predictor were explored using the fluorescence peak intensities and/or the integrated fluorescence intensities derived from synchronous fluorescence spectra and the first derivative spectra of river samples. A preliminary study was conducted using a mixture of a river and a treated sewage to test the feasibility of the approach. It was demonstrated that the better BOD predictor can be derived from synchronous fluorescence spectra and the derivatives when the difference between the emission and the excitation wavelengths (${\Delta}{\gamma}$) was large. The efficacy of several selected fluorescence parameters was rivers in Seoul. The fluorescence parameters exhibited relatively good correlation coefficients with the BOD values, ranging from 0.59 to 0.90. Two parameters were suggested to be the optimum BOD predictors, which were a fluorescence peak at a wavelength of 283 nm from the synchronous spectrum at the ${\Delta}{\gamma}$ value of 75 nm, and the integrated fluorescence intensity of the first derivatives of the spectra at the wavelength range between 245 nm and 280 nm. Each BOD predictor showed the correlation coefficients of 0.89 and 0.90, respectively. It is expected that the results of this study will provide important information to develop a real-time efficient sensor for river BOD in the future.