Interesting question..First hand information on the issue says , these parameters are inter-linked to each other...
Correlation between BOD, COD and TOC..
Cubic Equation : BOD = 3.376E- 7 (COD)3 + 6.82E- 4 (COD)2 + 3.96E –4 (COD) + 4.822.For BOD versus TOC, exponential equation is preferable because of lesser errors. For BOD versus COD, cubic equation gives better estimation...PDF enclosed fro further reading ..
The empirical equation provided certainly has value for the source water that was used to generate data for statistical (regression) analysis. However, this relationship can vary from site to site, and from water to water. It is heavily dependent on the origin/source and composition of the water/solution.
Dubber and Gray, Replacement of chemical oxygen demand (COD) with total organic carbon (TOC) for monitoring wastewater treatment performance to minimize disposal of toxic analytical waste, Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A: Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering Volume 45, Issue 12, 2010 (see attached file)
The study examined the replacement of COD with total organic carbon (TOC) for general performance monitoring by comparing their relationship with influent and effluent samples from 11 wastewater treatment plants. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) was also included in the comparison as a control. The results show significant linear relationships between TOC, COD and BOD5 in settled (influent) domestic and municipal wastewaters, but only between COD and TOC in treated effluents. The study concludes that TOC can be reliably used for the generic replacement of both COD (COD = 49.2 + 3.00*TOC) and BOD5 (BOD5= 23.7 + 1.68*TOC) in influent wastewaters but only for COD (COD = 7.25 + 2.99*TOC) in final effluents.
There are some other empirical correlation, which should be established site by site. The problem is under discussion by EU Commission because COD uses dichromate and it should be substituted by TOC.
Firstly it should be recognized that, when substituting TOC for COD, a new parameter is being introduced measuring both oxygen - consuming and oxidized substances found in influent wastewater. In this respect the TOC parameter may prove to be inadequate to describe the level of performance of a biological treatment plant, normally based upon the oxidation of organic matter. In the case the requirements for discharge are being expressed as minimum percentage of reduction of the polluting load based upon TOC, such measurements may exhibit inconsistently low values whenever the organic carbon in the influent is not completely oxidized to carbon dioxide.
While theoretically a good COD/TOC correlation may be estabilished, however this one is strongly affected by the chemical characterization of wastewater undergoing treatment. This is the reason why the Commission proposal suggests that for each treatment plant such a correlation should be estabilished. However it is unclear how the setting up of a fixed value of 30 mg C/l may result coherent with a varying correlation from plant to plant.
Following the estabilishment of such a correlation (whose responsibility should be properly allocated), resulting from a linked application at any plant of both methods for a period not lower than 2 years, a limit value of TOC parameter could be chosen corresponding to the COD value of 125 mg O2 /l.
An empirical relationship exists between BOD5, COD, and TOC. However, the specific relationship must be established for each sample location in a plant. That is, the relationship between the BOD5, COD, and TOC from a given sample location is site-specific. Once the correlation has been established, the COD test is useful for monitoring and process control. Without BOD5 data correlated to COD data, the ratios in Table 1 can be used to estimate (roughly approximate, really) the relationship between COD, BOD5, and/or TOC.