Division 1.7 Calculation of biodegradability

The percentage degradation of surfactant must be calculated every day on the basis of the surfactant content in mg/l of the synthetic sewage and of the corresponding effluent accumulated in vessel F.

The degradability values thus obtained should be presented graphically as in Figure 3.

The degradability of the surfactant should be calculated as the arithmetic mean of the values obtained over the twenty-one days that follow the running-in and acclimatisation period, during which degradation has been regular and the operation of the plant trouble-free. In any event the duration of the running-in period should not exceed six weeks.

The daily degradation values are calculated to the nearest 0,1 % but the final result is given to the nearest whole number.

In some cases it may be permissible to reduce the frequency of sampling but at least fourteen results collected over the twenty-one days which follow the running-in period should be used in calculating the average.