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MODULAR TREATMENT APPROACH
FOR DRINKING WATER AND
WASTEWATER
This page intentionally left blank
 MODULAR
TREATMENT
APPROACH FOR
DRINKING
WATER AND
WASTEWATER
Edited by

Satinder Kaur Brar

Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada;
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre-Eau Terre et Environnement, Québec, QC, Canada

Pratik Kumar
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Agnieszka Cuprys
Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
Elsevier
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 Contents

Contributors ix 4. Modular treatment approach for drinking

Preface xiii water and wastewater: introduction to a
sustainable approach to decentralized treatment
1. Introduction systems
RAHUL SAINI, CARLOS SAUL OSORIO-GONZALEZ, AND A. DALILA LARIOS-MARTÍNEZ,
SATINDER KAUR BRAR

CHRISTELL BARRALES-FERNANDEZ,
P. ELIZABETH ALVAREZ-CHAVEZ, CARLOS MÉNDEZ-CARRETO,
1.1 Introduction 1 FABIOLA SANDOVAL-SALAS, NORA RUIZ-COLORADO,
STÉPHANE GODBOUT, SÉBASTIEN FOURNEL, AND
References 9
ANTONIO AVALOS-RAMÍREZ

2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking 4.1 Introduction 55

water treatment 4.2 Wastewater treatment 57
SABA MIRI, JAVAD GHANEI, AND SATINDER KAUR BRAR
4.3 Wastewater treatment operations 57
4.4 Modular wastewater treatment approaches 60
2.1 Introduction 13 4.5 Conclusions 64
2.2 Wastewater treatment infrastructure 14 References 64
2.3 Macropollutants in water and sludge 19 Further reading 66
2.4 Micropollutants in water and wastewater 21
2.5 Water quality parameters 26 5. Modular water treatment practice in cold
2.6 Bottlenecks and limitations of centralized drinking countries
water and wastewater treatment facilities 29 MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN KARIMI DARVANJOOGHI,
2.7 Conclusion 31 WASEEM RAJA, PRATIK KUMAR, SARA MAGDOULI, AND
References 31 SATINDER KAUR BRAR

3. Perspectives on the use of modular systems for 5.1 Introduction 67

organic micropollutants removal 5.2 Treatment units for modular drinking water
system 68
SEYYED MOHAMMADREZA DAVOODI,
5.3 Operational challenges of modular treatment systems
MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN KARIMI DARVANJOOGHI, AND
SATINDER KAUR BRAR in a cold country 76
5.4 Conclusion 77
3.1 Introduction to challenges related to removal of Acknowledgments 78
organic micropollutants and possible solutions 33 References 78
3.2 Organic micropollutants removal: current state of
art 40 6. Introduction to modular wastewater
3.3 Source-to-tap: Where to apply the new treatment system and its significance
modules? 47 ASHOK KUMAR GUPTA, ABHRADEEP MAJUMDER, AND
3.4 Conclusion 49 PARTHA SARATHI GHOSAL
Acknowledgments 49
References 49 6.1 Introduction 81

v
vi Contents

6.2 Wastewater and its components 82 9. Electrode-based reactors in modular

6.3 Conventional practices and associated challenges in wastewater treatment
wastewater treatment 88
GURUPRASAD V. TALEKAR
6.4 Prospect of modular wastewater treatment units in
developing countries 93
9.1 Introduction 149
6.5 Summary of findings 94
9.2 Electrooxidation 150
References 95
9.3 Electrochemical disinfection 157
9.4 CLASS (closed loop advanced sanitation
7. Phytoremediation as a modular approach for system) 161
greywater treatment 9.5 Conclusion 167
~
FERNANDO JORGE MAGALHAES FILHO (CORREA) AND References 167
PAULA PAULO (LOUREIRO)
10. A review on advanced biological systems for
7.1 Phytoremediation and constructed wetlands: a
modular wastewater treatment plants: process,
modular approach 107
7.2 Greywater as a main component of domestic application, and future in developing countries
wastewater 109 ASHOK KUMAR GUPTA, ABHRADEEP MAJUMDER, AND
7.3 Constructed wetlands as nature-based solutions for PARTHA SARATHI GHOSAL
greywater treatment 109
7.4 Case study: authors experience with constructed 10.1 Introduction 171
wetlands and greywater 113 10.2 Modular constructed wetland-based treatment
7.5 Challenges and perspectives 125 units 171
Acknowledgments 126 10.3 Modular membrane bioreactorebased treatment
References 126 units 178
10.4 Modular microbial fuel cellebased treatment
units 179
8. Design and principles of adsorbent-based 10.5 Other advanced modular biological wastewater
reactors for modular wastewater treatment treatment units 180
M. CHAUDHARY, N. JAIN, L. BARMAN, AND G.D. BHOWMICK 10.6 Evaluation of the performance of modular treatment
units 184
8.1 Introduction 129 References 185
8.2 Adsorbent-based reactors 130
8.3 Flow direction and the extent of adsorption 133 11. A life cycle assessment perspective to
8.4 Adsorbents used in adsorption-based reactors 134
conventional and modular wastewater treatment
8.5 Principle of adsorption and its mechanism 134
8.6 Design of multifunctional adsorbents 137 BIKASH R. TIWARI AND SATINDER KAUR BRAR
8.7 Decentralized/modular treatment systems: need,
significance, and case studies 138 11.1 Introduction 187
8.8 Challenges and future perspectives 142 11.2 Life cycle phases 188
8.9 Conclusion 143 11.3 LCA of modular wastewater treatment systems 194
References 143 11.4 Case studies centralized versus decentralized 198
Further reading 148 References 202
 Contents vii
12. Concept of bioproduct recovery in relation References 261
to the modular treatment Further reading 264
CARLOS SAUL OSORIO-GONZALEZ, JOSEPH SEBASTIAN,
SATINDER KAUR BRAR, AND ANTONIO AVALOS-RAMÍREZ 15. Role of membrane filtration in modular
drinking water treatment system
12.1 Introduction 207 PRITHA CHATTERJEE, UBHAT ALI, AND PRATIK KUMAR
12.2 Sludge-to-energy concept 208
12.3 Biodiesel production 210 15.1 Introduction 267
12.4 Biogas generation 212 15.2 Types of membrane systems 268
12.5 Biofertilizers 216 15.3 Modular design: a membrane technology aspects for
12.6 Conclusion 220 drinking water treatment 270
Acknowledgment 220 15.4 State of the art: application of the membrane
References 220 treatment systems 271
15.5 Case studies 276
13. Introduction to modular drinking water 15.6 Conclusions 277
treatment system Acknowledgment 277
KAIVALYA KULKARNI, WASEEM RAJA, AND PRATIK KUMAR
References 277
Further reading 279
13.1 Introduction 225
13.2 Modular drinking water treatment systems: 16. Modular drinking water systems: chemical
advantages 226 treatment perspective
13.3 Challenges in setting up modular drinking water PRATISHTHA KHURANA, RAMA PULICHARLA, AND
treatment systems 227 SATINDER KAUR BRAR
13.4 Factors affecting selection of modular drinking water
treatment systems 227 16.1 Introduction 281
13.5 Design considerations for modular drinking water 16.2 Community drinking water treatment 282
treatment systems 228 16.3 The chlorination process 283
13.6 Conclusion 236 16.4 Chlorination by-products 289
References 236 16.5 Advanced chemical methods 290
Further reading 237 16.6 Challenges and future outlooks 298
16.7 Conclusion 299
14. Role and importance of filtration system in References 299
modular drinking water treatment system
17. Modular drinking water treatment system
KAMALPREET KAUR BRAR, HAYAT RAZA, SARA MAGDOULI,
AND SATINDER KAUR BRAR using ozonation and UV
XUHAN SHU, PRATIK KUMAR, AND SATINDER KAUR BRAR
14.1 Introduction 239
14.2 Commercialized MDWTS 240 17.1 Ozonation drinking water treatment system
14.3 Case studies 242 (DWTS): a modular approach principle of
14.4 Ultrastructure of filter vessel and important steps to ozonation 303
be followed for efficient functioning in 17.2 UV-based treatment of drinking water sources: a
MDWTS 245 modular approach principle of a UV light 307
14.5 Basic sizing formula and example of filter 17.3 Current benefit and possible challenges to provide
media 247 solution for a smaller community 311
14.6 Role of passive filter media to design a novel 17.4 Case study and future perspective for the modular
MDWTS 249 water treatment system 314
14.7 Microbiological aspect of drinking water 256 17.5 Conclusion 315
14.8 Conclusion 261 References 316
viii Contents

18. Application of solar energy in modular 19. Life cycle assessment drinking water supply
drinking water treatment and treatment systems
PRATIK KUMAR, AGNIESZKA CUPRYS, AND VR SANKAR CHEELA, UBHAT ALI, PRATIK KUMAR, AND
SATINDER KAUR BRAR BRAJESH K. DUBEY

18.1 Introduction 319 19.1 Introduction 335

18.2 Solar energy used for desalination purpose 320 19.2 Case study 338
18.3 Disinfection of drinking water using solar energy: 19.3 Review of LCA studies in water sector 342
solar disinfection 326 19.4 Summary 348
18.4 Conclusion 332 Acknowledgment 348
Acknowledgments 332 References 348
References 332
Index 351
 Contributors
Ubhat Ali Department of Civil Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology Jammu, Jammu and
Kashmir, India
P. Elizabeth Alvarez-Chavez Research and Devel-
opment Institute for the Agri-Environment
(IRDA), Québec, QC, Canada; Département des
sols et de génie agroalimentaire, Faculté des sci-
ences de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation, Univer-
sité Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada
Antonio Avalos-Ramírez Institut National de la
Recherche Scientifique - Centre Eau Terre Environ-
nement, Université du Québec, Québec, QC,


Canada; Centre National en Electrochimie et en
Technologies Environnementales, Shawinigan,
QC, Canada
L. Barman Agricultural and Food Engineering
Department, Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Christell Barrales-Fern
andez Tecnol
ogico Nacional
de México/ITS de Perote, Perote, Veracruz, México
G.D. Bhowmick Agricultural and Food Engineering
Department, Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Kamalpreet Kaur Brar Department of Civil Engi-
neering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York Uni-
versity, Toronto, ON, Canada; Centre
Technologique des Résidus Industriels en Abitibi
Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada
Satinder Kaur Brar Department of Civil Engineer-
ing, Lassonde School of Engineering, York Univer-
sity, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institut National de la
Recherche Scientifique - Centre Eau Terre Environ-
nement, Québec, QC, Canada
Pritha Chatterjee Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Hydera-
bad, Telangana, India
ix
M. Chaudhary Department of Desalination and Wa-
ter Treatment, Zuckerberg Institute for Water
Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Beer-Sheba, Israel
VR Sankar Cheela Environmental Engineering and
Management, Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharag-
pur, West Bengal, India
Agnieszka Cuprys Norwegian University of Life
Sciences, Ås, Norway
Seyyed Mohammadreza Davoodi Department of
Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering,
York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institut
National de la Recherche Scientifique - Centre-
Eau, Terre Environnement, Québec, QC, Canada
Brajesh K. Dubey Environmental Engineering and
Management, Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharag-
pur, West Bengal, India
Sébastien Fournel Département des sols et de génie
agroalimentaire, Faculté des sciences de l’agricul-
ture et de l’alimentation, Université Laval, Quebec,
QC, Canada
Javad Ghanei Department of Civil Engineering,
Lassonde School of Engineering, York University,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Partha Sarathi Ghosal School of Water Resources,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharag-
pur, West Bengal, India
Stéphane Godbout Research and Development
Institute for the Agri-Environment (IRDA), Québec,
QC, Canada
Ashok Kumar Gupta Environmental Engineering
Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur,
West Bengal, India
x Contributors
N. Jain Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,
Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India
Mohammad Hossein Karimi Darvanjooghi Depart-
ment of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of
Engineering, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Pratishtha Khurana Department of Civil Engineer-
ing, Lassonde School of Engineering, York Univer-
sity, Toronto, ON, Canada
Kaivalya Kulkarni The Municipal Infrastructure
Group, Civil EIT - Water Linear, Toronto, ON,
Canada
Pratik Kumar Department of Civil Engineering, In-
dian Institute of Technology Jammu, Jammu and
Kashmir, India
A. Dalila Larios-Martínez Research and Develop-
ment Institute for the Agri-Environment (IRDA),
Québec, QC, Canada; Tecnol
ogico Nacional de
México/ITS de Perote, Perote, Veracruz, México
Fernando Jorge Magalh~aes Filho (Correa) CNPq
Research Productivity Fellow (National Scientific
Research Council), Brasília, DF, Brazil; PhD in Envi-
ronmental Sanitation and Water Resources (UFMS),
Campo Grande, MS, Brazil; Specialist in Project
Management (USP), Piracicaba, SP, Brazil; Postdoc-
torate (UFMS), Brazil and period at Aarhus Univer-
sity, Denmark and Technological University of
Pereira, Aarhus and Colombia, Denmark
Sara Magdouli Department of Civil Engineering,
Lassonde School of Engineering, York University,
Toronto, ON, Canada; Centre Technologique des
Résidus Industriels en Abitibi Témiscamingue,
Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada
Abhradeep Majumder School of Environmental
Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Tech-
nology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Carlos Méndez-Carreto Tecnol
ogico Nacional de
México/ITS de Perote, Perote, Veracruz, México
Saba Miri Department of Civil Engineering,
Lassonde School of Engineering, York University,
Toronto, ON, Canada; Institut National de la
Recherche Scientifique - Centre-Eau Terre Environ-
nement, Québec, QC, Canada
Carlos Saul Osorio-Gonzalez Department of Civil
Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering,
York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Paula Paulo (Loureiro) Dom Bosco Catholic Univer-
sity, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil; PhD in Environ-
mental Sciences (WUR), Delft and Wageningen,
Netherlands; Specialist in Resource-Oriented Sani-
tation (SIDA), Stockholm, Sweden; Postdoctorate
(WUR and TU Delft), Delft and Wageningen,
Netherlands; Federal University of Mato Grosso
do Sul (UFMS), Campo Grande, MS, Brazil
Rama Pulicharla Department of Civil Engineering,
Lassonde School of Engineering, York University,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Waseem Raja Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Jammu, Jammu
and Kashmir, India
Hayat Raza Continental Carbon Group, Inc., Stoney
Creek, ON, Canada
Nora Ruiz-Colorado Tecnol
ogico Nacional de
México/ITS de Perote, Perote, Veracruz, México
Rahul Saini Department of Civil Engineering, Las-
sonde School of Engineering, York University,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Fabiola Sandoval-Salas Tecnol
ogico Nacional de
México/ITS de Perote, Perote, Veracruz, México
Joseph Sebastian Institut National de la Recherche
Scientifique - Centre Eau Terre Environnement,
Université du Québec, Québec, QC, Canada
Xuhan Shu Department of Civil Engineering, Las-
sonde School of Engineering, York University,
Toronto, ON, Canada
Guruprasad V. Talekar Research Associate,
Applied Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory,
Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute
of Technology and Science, K K Birla Goa Campus,
Goa, India
Bikash R. Tiwari Institut National de la Recherche
Scientifique - Centre Eau Terre Environnement,
Université du Québec, Quebec, QC, Canada
 Preface
Early wastewater treatment plants during the
Roman period were primary conduits carrying
dirty water, which changed in the late 19th and
early 20th century with the construction of
centralized sewage treatment. As environmental
quality became a key preoccupation in the mid-
20th century, the treatment systems became
more complex and larger in size. With the pas-
sage of time, the technological, climatic, and
demographic changes started affecting the per-
formance of “centralized” urban water and
wastewater treatment plants. Hence, a higher
water quality and demand management necessi-
tate the requirement of a novel approach for wa-
ter treatment plant design. The modular systems
came to the rescue as they allow a flexible,
sustainable, and cost-effective water treatment
service and operation. Such modular or decen-
tralized water treatment system provides porta-
bility features, such as low footprint, and is
amazingly effective for the development of the
infrastructure that requires less engineering by
adapting to the existing space.
The purpose of this book is to present the
modern approach of tackling the problem of
high-quality water and wastewater treatment
demand. The modular strategy allows the
customized retrofit solution to constantly chang-
ing parameters of the urban water that is to be
treated. The advanced treatment modules can
be added or removed, depending on the current
demand and requirements. The application of
xi
modular water/wastewater treatment can be
remarkably successful for nontransient, noncom-
munity water systems, housing developments,
day care centers, schools, industries and parks,
manufacturing facilities, as well as environ-
mental remediation. Hence, this book is
intended to keep the global research community,
practitioners, industrialists, and young water
professionals up to date with the current trend
in this emerging field of modular water and
wastewater treatment systems.
This book summarizes the principles of
modular design (Chapters 1e4), as well as the
current developments and perspectives
regarding the usage of the modular approach
in a cold climate (Chapter 5). It introduces the
modular approach in urban water treatment.
The novel and up-to-date review of wastewater
(Chapter 6e12) and drinking water (Chapter
13e19) treatment methods with incorporated
modular strategy is presented. The life cycle as-
sessments of water treatment plants as well as
the perspectives of modular treatment usage
are explained.
We gratefully appreciate the hard work and
patience of all contributing authors of this
book. The views or opinions expressed in each
chapter of this book are those of the authors
and should not be interpreted as opinions of
their affiliated organizations.
The Editors
This page intentionally left blank
 C H A P T E R
1
Introduction
Rahul Saini, Carlos Saul Osorio-Gonzalez, Satinder Kaur Brar
Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto,
ON, Canada
1.1 Introduction
The water sector around the world has faced
many challenges regarding its management.
However, a specific emphasis has been observed
in urban water systems including drinking and
wastewater systems. Water is one of the essential
elements for sustaining quality of city life, liveli-
hoods, and urban economy. In general, water
management involves meeting regulatory
criteria for safe drinking water, storage, treat-
ment, wastewater discharge, drainage, and
collection of stormwater to decrease risks of ur-
ban flooding. The current policies to water man-
agement have well served in terms of public
safety, economic development, and public health
(Meli
an, 2020). However, increasing impact of
climate change, urbanization, strained ecosys-
tems, and high energy requirements on water
quantity and quality are becoming apparent
and more visible. Fig. 1.1 shows the benefits of
sustainable and integrated water management.
Basically, the concept of sustainable water man-
agement includes the environmental, hydrologi-
cal, ecological, and social integrity of water
systems in the present and long-term future.
However, because of the sustainable water man-
agement works with the above factors, it is
Modular Treatment Approach for Drinking Water and Wastewater
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85421-4.00016-4
necessary to include multidisciplinary objec-
tives, process, and participatory agents with
the aim to manage, develop, and improve the
water systems (Haasnoot et al., 2011). In this
sense, the sustainable water management con-
siders the drinking and tap water as a funda-
mental for the human well-being, while
promoting the healthy communities by creating
the resilient environment.
Over the past decade, resource recovery tech-
nologies from wastewater have been extensively
studied as a potential alternative, used mainly to
help in resolving the problem of water scarcity.
However, the current problem of this type of
technologies is that a large-scale implementation
is still lacking. However, to talk about water
management can be a hard topic because of the
wide application of water and its differences in
specific application. Additionally, well-being of
humanity depends on the availability of drink-
ing water, which directly related to the food pro-
duction and wastewater treatment (EL-Nwsany
et al., 2019). Drinking water supplies as well as
stormwater disposal systems have been a
massive challenge in all the places highly popu-
lated (10 millions). The main concerns sur-
rounding this situation are the fast
urbanization, which has largely surpassed most
1 © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
2 1. Introduction
FIGURE 1.1 Illustration of benefits of sustainable water management.
of the used systems, but especially developing
countries are the ones that have suffered the
most due to this (Biswas, 2006).
On the other hand, agriculture sectors require
at least 70% of ground water for irrigation.
Nevertheless, this percentage could increase
rapidly with the time because of the increasing
population as well as field irrigation and distri-
bution losses (Chartzoulakis and Bertaki, 2015).
Finally, wastewater system plays a critical role
in water management. Conventionally, the goal
of wastewater treatment is to protect the ecolog-
ical user life and ecosystem integrity. Neverthe-
less, each of the systems can work as whole
system but with different approaches and
several applications directly or indirectly ob-
tained from each system. For instance, storm-
water recovered can be used on urban
gardening and carwash establishments, among
others.
So far, the major research development has
been focused on wastewater systems to remove
toxic compounds and in a best exploitation and
maximum production of high value-added
products. Furthermore, one of the main aims of
wastewater system is to remove the pollutants
such as heavy metals, phosphorus, sulfur, nitro-
gen, or pathogens (Verstraete et al., 2009). As
mentioned before all water systems have
different characteristics, applications, and tech-
nologies. In this sense, the modular treatment
concept can be a potential alternative to improve
its efficiency from the point of view of approach-
ability to improve, replace, update, or change the
equipment without changing the entire system
due the freedom it brings to each stage of the
process of the system. For example, one of the
most used technologies in wastewater treatment
systems is an anaerobic digestion where the
microorganism consumes the organic content
from wastewater. This type of process could be
a good example to use a modular concept
because for instance with base on wastewater
characteristics two or more types of anaerobic
reactor can be adaptable for the entire process
(Verstraete and Vlaeminck, 2011). The above
facts and statements drive the necessity to
develop the sustainable technology with a
modular concept as a resource to have a better
water management as well as a high recovery
and production of value-added compounds
low energy requirement and low or no impact
on environment with a circular resource flow
that can contribute to increase the sustainable
development goals (Guest et al., 2009; Ma
et al., 2013).
 1.1 Introduction
The present chapter focuses on the current sta-
tus of urban water management including stan-
dards and guidelines. Issues regarding
wastewater treatment and sustainability such
as energy requirement, nutrient recovery, water
quality monitoring, and modular modeling
have been discussed in this chapter.
1.1.1 Urban water management: current
state of the art
Urban water management includes managing
multiple parameters such as water storage, treat-
ment, collection, discharge, industrial effluents,
wastewater treatment, and storm water collec-
tion. In general, urban water management re-
quires the holistic approach for performance
assessment of water sustainability by including
the multiple parameters and criteria including
wastewater management, storm water manage-
ment, and water demand management. Fig. 1.2
represents the different aspects of urban water
management for sustainable use of water. It
can also be characterized by urban water cycle,
which includes the water stream flow around
the environment.
FIGURE 1.2 The concept of urban water management for sustainable use of water has been illustrated.
3
1.1.1.1 Wastewater management
The history behind of wastewater manage-
ment is interesting in terms of all steps that are
involved before obtaining the final product that
basically is to remove certain compounds that
come from human hygiene, food, pharmaceu-
tical, and industrial activities. Furthermore, in
addition to the previous sources in some coun-
tries, the stormwater is also included into the
wastewater system. However, these actions
depend on the structure that each location pos-
sesses that is closely related to the water direc-
tions they hold (Lofrano and Brown, 2010).
Over the last century, significant changes have
been made to the guidelines and legislation on
wastewater management to further increase the
pollution control and decrease the impact on
ecosystem. These changes start with the Eight
Report created by the Royal Commission on
Sewage and Disposal in 1912, when for the first
time, the inclusion of biochemical oxygen de-
mand (BOD) standard protocol was applied in
wastewater effluents. After that, a cascade of
new technologies, standard protocols, and
different systems were developed, tested, certi-
fied, and patented. However, all this developed
4 1. Introduction
knowledge has been evolved through the time in
different manners and different routes and every
time each process began to be more specific in
the direction of wastewater characteristics and
concerning to the obtained products as an added
value of the entire process (Brown and Lofrano,
2015; Hellweger, 2015; Villarín and Merel,
2020). Currently, a new concept to have a better
exploitation and reliability of wastewater treat-
ment process has been raised during the last de-
cades. The main attribute that the modular
system offers to the wastewater management
process and specially in wastewater treatment
plants is a high independence among all steps
without disturbing the entire process flow.
1.1.1.2 Storm water management
The constant and growing urbanization
derived from the imminent growth population
around the world has undesirable effects in the
natural water cycle because the hydrological cy-
cle is disturbed by artificial paths mainly con-
structed by concrete with low filtration
capacity. The above fact affects the water perme-
ability to the groundwater, which has given a
way to a new paradigm regarding the treatment
of the stormwater management process during
the last decades (Khadka et al., 2020). The new
paradigm has not been focused on nature-
based solutions such as in situ reuse, infiltration,
and storage. Nevertheless, the above solutions
have been addressed using different
processes such as green roofs, permeable con-
crete, bio-retention cells, or rain gardens. All
these technologies are contemplated through
different approaches such as water-sensitive ur-
ban designs (WSUDs), low-impact development
(LID), low-impact urban design and develop-
ment (LIUDD), integrated urban water manage-
ment (IUWM), or sustainable urban drainage
systems (SUDS), among others. All these ap-
proaches are designed in a specific way and ac-
cording to the necessities of each place around
the world in which they are implemented
(Fletcher et al., 2015). Although, the use of the
technologies mentioned above shows three
considerable limitations in the moment of its
development and application. Firstly, they
cannot be used in all the urban places, for
instance, the green roofs only can be used in
some buildings or houses that were designed
with this purpose; secondly, most of them have
a high investment cost and maintenance, and
thirdly, the efficacy in terms of water recovery
and management is relatively low, which com-
plicates its use and application on a large scale.
Besides, once the stormwater has been recov-
ered, most of it is discharged into the conven-
tional drainage system (Saraswat et al., 2016).
So far, the research has been focused to develop
more suitable, efficient, and affordable technolo-
gies with low investment and maintenance costs.
In this sense, the modular treatment concept rep-
resents a great opportunity to create a potential
process that can contribute to solve above chal-
lenges in the sector of stormwater management.
1.1.1.3 Water demand management
The water demand in urban regions has been
increased due to population burst and economic
activities. Derived from the two above situa-
tions, the water demand has been faced chal-
lenges such as enough sources to provide
quality water, water availability, increase de-
mand from the final users, as well as process fac-
tors like high energy demand, high operation,
and maintenance cost. Likewise, another critical
factor is related to the environment and most
specifically to climate change because the
anthropogenic activities disrupt the water cycle
causing changes in raining frequency, period-
icity, as well as the intensity (Da-ping et al.,
2011; Mishra et al., 2020). So far, most of the
developed studies have been focused to generate
models that include environmental and anthro-
pogenic factors. Additionally, both factors func-
tion as a socio-economical characteristics and
water demand at the site where the model has
 1.1 Introduction
been limitedly applied or will be applied. Never-
theless, these models do not consider a drastic
changes in landscape, land use, and urban devel-
opment, as well as extreme climatic events that
may occur over time (Moazeni and Khazaei,
2021; Sanchez et al., 2020). On another hand, to
face the operational and process challenges, the
modular system concept can be a suitable alter-
native to improve the entire water supply pro-
cess through a fast update of the old
technology, easy maintenance, and substitution
of some equipment in specific steps of the pro-
cess, as well as offer alternatives to increase the
water management on specific approaches such
as quality control that is one of the most impor-
tant parameters to consider.
In summary, the management seeks to eval-
uate the impact of urbanization on water cycles.
It requires an understanding the natural, prede-
velopment, and postdevelopment water balance.
Similarly, Sustainable Water Management Im-
proves Tomorrow’s Cities Health (SWITCH) is
a research program funded by European Union
(EU) in 2006 to facilitate modified concepts in ur-
ban water management (Howe et al., 2011). The
SWITCH framework has funded in four charac-
teristics: (i) interactive institutional action that in-
cludes urban water bodies and water cycle, (ii)
foresee the effect of urbanization through
learning alliance approach, (iii) a long-term strat-
egy development for sustainable urban water
management, and (iv) an efficient development
of storm water, wastewater, and urban water
management systems. Finally, the framework
considers all the aspects of the urban water sys-
tem in the cities as well as its modification with
respect to the changes that can happen in the
future time. Likewise, the framework makes
and emphasizes on the used technologies and
their robustness, including the sustainability
concept all the time. Nevertheless, around the
world, each country and each city have their
own programs or can follow some of the interna-
tional protocols that may vary widely between
them.
5
1.1.2 International conventions,
guidelines, and agreements
According to the United Nations (UN), com-
mittee on cultural rights, social, and economic is-
sues right to water statement, based on Article 11
and 12 of the International Covenant; everyone
has the right to get the highest attainable stan-
dard of mental and physical health. Currently,
two international global water conventions are
active (Belinskij et al., 2020); the first one is the
convention on the use and protection of interna-
tional lakes and transboundary watercourses
published in 1992, and the second one is the
convention on international watercourses for its
nonnavigational use published in 1997. Howev-
er, whatever the international guidelines or pro-
tocols are implemented, they share three main
principles regarding utilization, protection, and
sharing the watercourse. Table 1.1 show the
three principles and their main characteristics.
However, although the water management
guidelines follow the three previous principles,
there are still several challenges that need to be
considered for the development and implemen-
tation of models for the improvement of water
management systems (drinking water, storm-
water, and wastewater). And mention how
modular system/technologies will help (five to
six sentences).
1.1.3 Tackling the problem: sustainable
water treatment
There is no denying the fact that water scar-
city has been a foremost problem all over the
world. Moreover, overpopulation, climate
change, pollution of coastal regions, and aquifers
are continuously affecting the accessibility to suf-
ficient quality water (Zhou et al., 2020). In gen-
eral, toxic wastewater or sewage must be
treated before being discharged or reuse. There
are several pollutants which should be removed
or treated as they affect both natural environ-
ment and human beings. These compounds
6 1. Introduction

TABLE 1.1 Demonstrate the principles to use international waterways.

Principles

Reasonable and equitable utilization No-harm rule (UNECE, 2013) Cooperation rule (Belinskij et al., 2020)

The principle states that international
watercourse must be developed and
utilized in reasonable and equitable
manner to achieve sustainable use and
equal benefit through-out the place. In
addition, several other factors should
also be considered before taking the
decisions on water utilization such as
economic and social need, and the effect
of water use on another state or area.
According to no-harm rule principle,
authorities should take appropriate or
strict measures to prevent the harm or
damage to watercourses. For instance,
state can pass the legislation to prevent
to harmful or illegal activities in its
territory.
The principle aims to increase the
cooperation between two watercourse
sharing parties to achieve the principles
of no-harm rule and equitable utilization.
According to the rule, states sharing the
international waters must cooperate for
sovereign equality. It can also include the
joint monitoring, sharing information on
current and future uses, and alarm
procedures.

when discharged in aquatic system results in in-
crease organic load, which further leads to eutro-
phication. Similarly, hormonal disruptors are
another group of pollutants that pose huge
health risk to animals and humans such bisphe-
nol A, pesticides, and several bleaching agents


(Alvarez-Ruiz and Pic
o, 2020). In general, water
treatment methods include several techniques
such as physical, biological, and chemical
methods. These treatments are designed in-
order to achieve different levels of contaminant
removal. Briefly, the physical treatment involves
the screening to remove solids, large plastics,
and grit by sedimentation. The biological
methods mainly remove heavy metals, organic
load, nitrogen, and phosphorus from the waste-
water and sludge using technologies such as
trickling filters, rotating biological contactors,
anaerobic digestion, activated sludge process,
aerated lagoons, and pond stabilization. Finally,
the treated water effluent goes through
advanced treatment systems where pathogens,
viruses, and other bacteria are removed before
discharging into the environment (Osorio-
Gonz
alez et al., 2018). In this sense, the concept
of modular system can be a good alternative
helping to treat the wastewater generated from
the different sources. The main advantage of
modular concept is the independence that can
provide to each system as well as its specificity
for each process. Furthermore, the modular
treatment has the flexibility to use separate mod-
ules or semi-interconnected systems that can be
used as a partial treatment in the same place
where the water facilities are placed. Addition-
ally, modular system offers a wide variety of
adaptability to obtain several by-products such
as bioenergy, biofertilizer, nutrient recovery,
and many more. Further, a widely and detailed
discussion about the application of modular
concept as a potential alternative to improve
the water management will be performed in
the next chapters.
1.1.3.1 Low-grade energy
It has been approximated that global energy
demand would increase by 50% from 2010 to
2040. Hence, it drives the need to design the en-
ergy efficient treatment and recovery process.
The wastewater treatment currently consumed
w4% of total energy consumption in the United
States and the United Kingdom (Xu et al., 2015;
Oh et al., 2010). Approximately, 17.8 kJ/g chem-
ical oxygen demand (COD) is present in munic-
ipal wastewater, which is five times higher than
the energy required for the activated sludge pro-
cess (Heidrich et al., 2011; Wan et al., 2016).
Although, significant amount of COD-based en-
ergy is generally lost during microbial meta-
bolism (Frijns et al., 2013). In the United States
 1.1 Introduction
and Europe, more than 12 plants have been re-
ported to achieve >90% of self-sufficiency en-
ergy (Gu et al., 2017). On the other hand,
methane recovery from anaerobic process could
provide 30%e50% of energy required during
wastewater treatment (McCarty et al., 2011). In
addition, if recovered energy from the process
is used in the same or other process can be a po-
tential alternative to decrease the carbon finger-
print or in some cases it neutrality could be
achieved (Hao et al., 2015).
1.1.3.2 Nutrient recovery
In general, fraction of phosphorus and nitro-
gen applied as a fertilizer in agriculture ends
up in the wastewater plant (Daigger, 2009). It
was estimated that fertilizers account for >1%
of greenhouse gas emission, while 90% of the
emission comes from ammonium fertilizer pro-
duction (Sheik et al., 2014). In addition, ammonia
fertilizer is known to require high input energy
during its production stage, which then requires
a large amount of energy to undergo nitrification
and denitrification procedure. Hence, ammonia
recovery would be an option to save energy
only if it is done with lower energy than its pro-
duction stage (Daigger, 2009). Similarly, the re-
covery of phosphorus also holds importance as
its finite resource, which will soon be exhausted.
It generally enters the wastewater from indus-
trial effluents, detergents, and fecal matter (Xie
et al., 2016). If the phosphorus is not removed,
it can end up in water bodies and ultimately
affect the ecological integrity (Cordell et al.,
2009). The several technologies are available for
nutrient recovery such as bio-electrochemical re-
covery, crystallization, reversible adsorption,
electrodialysis, bio-drying, ammonia stripping,
alkaline humic acid recovery, and membrane
distillation (Kehrein et al., 2020). However,
nutrient recovery procedure generally affected
by lower concentration of nutrients present in
the wastewater effluent; hence, few should be
considered the nutrient accumulation or magni-
fication by physical, chemical, or biological
7
means, the release of concentrated nutrients or
the extraction of these concentrated nutrients
by chemical or physical methods. Nevertheless,
modular treatment allows to develop the model
that can not only remove excess of nutrient such
nitrogen, sulfur, or phosphorus from the water
but can also reuse these extracted nutrients to
grow forest trees as well as biofertilizers to in-
crease the crop growth.
1.1.3.3 Sensing and monitoring
Water such as wetlands, streams, coasts,
rivers, and estuaries are the most important
sources of water for life, while most of them
are polluted in most of the countries (Jiang
et al., 2020). Hence, sensing and monitoring
would allow the people to understand, improve,
and protect the aquatic life and water quality by
developing standards and management prac-
tices. For instance, water quality monitoring
network is designed for protecting and manag-
ing the water environment by collecting the in-
formation on states of water systems.
Researchers have made immense efforts to
further improve the monitoring network such
as budget requirement, sampling frequency
and duration, site selection, quality indicators,
and many more (Behmel et al., 2016; Shi et al.,
2018). In addition, World Health Organization
(WHO) and environmental protection agencies
such as USEPA, EPA, and EUEPA have pub-
lished guidelines on monitoring activities and
have been reviewed elsewhere (Behmel et al.,
2016; Loo et al., 2012; Watkinson, 2000; Zhang
et al., 2011). Water monitoring has evolved
from lab-scale analysis to on-site monitoring
and in-situ sensor-based monitoring, that helps
in great manner to obtain a high knowledge
“in real time”, which contributes to develop
and adjust the water process management. Be-
sides, the biosensor technology contributes to a
sustainable development mainly in places where
the water management has limitations related to
infrastructure, that generate a high impact into
the society (Viviano et al., 2014). Pollutant
8 1. Introduction
FIGURE 1.3 Detection of specific type of pollutant using sensors.
sensing and monitoring has been expanded from
conventional stoichiometric analysis to
spectrum-based analysis such as adsorption,
scattering, and optical reflection. Biosensors are
increasingly becoming popular in terms of
detecting lower concentration of pollutants
such as heavy metals, toxins, drugs, and patho-
genic strains (Saini et al., 2019). Fig. 1.3 repre-
sents the pollutant sensing mechanism using
sensors. The modular concept has an enormous
potential to use in this context due to a separate
and mobile module can be place, transport, or
attach at the same place where the water man-
agement or process is performed.
1.1.3.4 Modular modeling
The concept of modularization is with a base
of the separation of complex production sys-
tems, something that can be defined as a
“modular production.” The modular system
concept gained strength in the 1980s, with the
concept to use a strategy that would allow the
development and implementation of a variety
of combinations of the different production mod-
ules (Schilling, 2000; Langlois, 2002; Hegde et al.,
2003; Hellström and Wikström, 2005). Currently,
the concept of modular systems has evolved
through the inclusion of intrinsic factors and in
some cases anthropogenic. The current frame-
work in modeling, development, and implemen-
tation of production processes through modular
systems has factors based on the concept of sus-
tainability (economic, social, environmental)
(Mannina et al., 2019). In this sense, the develop-
ment and implementation of the sustainability
concept in modular systems have been coupled
with the constant and demanding change in
environmental policies around the world as a
prevailing objective for the success of these
type systems (Hammad et al., 2019; Pakizer
et al., 2020). Likewise, during the planning and
design of modular systems, not only the factors
mentioned above should be considered, because
each system needs a different level of customiza-
tion, in order to have a better adjust to the re-
quirements of the system itself. Some of these
factors are local conditions, in which the installa-
tion of modular systems has been a constant
challenge to its success on an industrial scale.
On the other hand, once the modular system
model has been established, the optimization
and standardization of the process must be car-
ried out as a single system. This will allow cost
reduction, which in turn will increase the
 References
profitability and efficiency of the modular sys-
tem (Saliu et al., 2020; Chopra and Khanna,
2014). With the aim of reducing heterogeneity
and increasing its functionality, strategies such
as functional modularization and massive cus-
tomization of modular systems have been pro-
posed. The above strategies are based on the
fact that when dividing a complex system into
more detailed modules, it depends firstly; the
product to be obtained and secondly; the pur-
pose of the modular system itself. This is mainly
due to the fact that, although the modules are in-
dependent, they form a “whole,” which can be
called in terms of the process as an “industrial
ecosystem” where the main advantage is that
the modules can be operated and replaced by
other modules with the same or different func-
tion (depending on the requirements of the com-
plete system) (Benito et al., 2002; Zhu and Ruth,
2013). An example of this type of system is the
processes to produce biofuels or secondary me-
tabolites, in the management of industrial or
agricultural waste, where some modules act as
raw material suppliers, pretreatment units, and
purification, among others (Pang et al., 2017;
Fenoll et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2020). In this
sense, the establishment of the modules and their
complement between them is a challenging task
during their planning and standardization, since
when this type of modular systems presents a
weak interdependence (high independence
from each other), which is beneficial for the
entire system during the optimization and stan-
dardization period. Therefore, the implementa-
tion and use of modular systems in production,
purification, and recovery processes is an
extremely attractive alternative. Likewise, this
modular system can be the beginning of a com-
bined system, where the modular process sys-
tem can become a business model with some
minor adjustments, which leads to the creation
of industrial clusters in a fast and sustainable
route.
9
1.1.4 Conclusion
The market of resource recovery from waste-
water has been increased over the past years to
meet the energy and elemental demands of soci-
eties. The focus on developing the circular water
flow has increased along with the development of
resource recovery routes to satisfy overall demand
in most sustainable way possible. Several standards
and convention are in-effect to implement the
controlled and sustainable sharing of waterways
across the world. On the other hand, developing
ways to treat wastewater to achieve the standards
laid by government before its reuse are under con-
stant research. Furthermore, designing the water
monitoring network is an essential aspect of sus-
tainable water management.
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 C H A P T E R
2
Characteristic of wastewater and drinking
water treatment
Saba Miri1,2, Javad Ghanei1, Satinder Kaur Brar1,2
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, York University, Toronto, ON,
Canada; 2Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique - Centre-Eau Terre Environnement, Quebec,
QC, Canada
2.1 Introduction
In the last century, understanding and knowl-
edge of the relationship between water/waste-
water treatment and public health have
increased, so has the impetus for innovation of
new treatments technologies. Due to increasing
urbanization and new stringent regulations, the
existing processes should be modified, and inno-
vative technologies are an inevitable need for
achieving enhanced removal of pollutants from
wastewater and drinking water. Worldwide,
1.8 million children die from diarrhea every
year due to water contamination (Supply et al.,
2015), leading to an urgent need to provide effi-
cient and affordable water treatment in devel-
oping countries. Water and wastewater
facilities are often nonexistent in these countries,
or current technologies cannot address water
quality or quantity demand. Modular treatment
systems allow flexibility in response to changing
quality or quantity demands. Also, it provides
the platform for availing a decentralized treat-
ment system that can be linked with the central
Modular Treatment Approach for Drinking Water and Wastewater
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-85421-4.00007-3 13
pipelines for better management of the water
system. The changes in water quality can be
attributed to emerging contaminants such as
personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and vi-
ruses. While quantity changes are related to
rapid population growth.
There are several technologies and facilities
used for the treatment of wastewater and drink-
ing water. However, the wastewater effluent
cannot be used as drinking water and needs
more treatment. The wastewater quality can
affect the necessary process of drinking water
treatment. Most often, treatment infrastructure
for wastewater and drinking water has some
common steps and has a relation to the urban
water cycle. Fig. 2.1 shows an overview of pro-
cesses used in plants to treat water in two forms:
wastewater and drinking water. Source separa-
tion and quality-separation sewage treatment
and resource recovery are essential trends of
wastewater and drinking water treatment.
Modular packages can be designed for waste-
water source-separation treatment and can be
applied in resource recovery for remote camps
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
14 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment
FIGURE 2.1 Typical wastewater and drinking water treatment infrastructures.
and small communities such as single buildings,
construction sites, or shopping complexes. Also,
industrial users such as food and beverage com-
panies can be benefited from this modular treat-
ment. One of the advantages of modular
treatment is the flexibility of adjusting the mod-
ule size, so the number of modules can be
changed to reach desirable water quality for
different purposes (Tang et al., 2020). Also, it
provides better wastewater facility and manage-
ment where specific pollutants (for example,
hospital wastewater (HWW)) that could be pre-
treated before they enter the wastewater system.
Since, pharmaceutical compounds can create
further trouble for the conventional central
wastewater treatment and then drinking water
facilities. Nowadays, research on the presence
of pharmaceutical compounds in drinking water
has been increased, and these chemical pollution
might have the ability to cause harm This is sur-
prising because drinking water would provide a
direct route into the body for any drugs that
might be present. Accordingly, new technologies
such as modular systems that provide multiple
functionality, high efficiency, and high flexibility
in configuration and system size are needed. In
this chapter, the basic principles in drinking wa-
ter and wastewater treatment infrastructure are
discussed, and available techniques for removal
of macro and micropollutants were evaluated.
Then, bottlenecks and limitations of conven-
tional drinking water and wastewater treatment
systems are presented. This information can be
used in setting research in designing modular
systems to address the challenges in the conven-
tional system.
2.2 Wastewater treatment infrastructure
Wastewater is contaminated water from in-
dustrial, commercial, domestic, or agricultural
 2.2 Wastewater treatment infrastructure
activities, which cannot be used again before
treatment. Municipal and industrial wastewater
and stormwater are the main categories of
wastewater.
Municipal wastewater is all the water that
leaves people’s houses every day, including the
water used in toilettes, kitchens, bathrooms,
etc. Water goes through a wastewater collecting
system and ends up in a wastewater treatment
plant (WWTP). Industrial wastewater is the
outcome of industrial or agricultural activities.
It may be polluted with heavy metals and partic-
ular chemicals, so it should be treated separately
using a modular treatment system as a part of
pretreatment technology. In many modern and
smart cities, the industrial area has separate
wastewater treatment facilities. In these facilities,
wastewater would be primarily treated to reach
specific standards; then, it can be added to the
municipal wastewater flow for more treatment.
Finally, stormwater is the result of rainfall.
Some part of the rainfall would be absorbed to
the ground, and some of it would be surface
runoff and flows into the waterways, which
ends up in the wastewater system. The proper
designing of a central sewerage system takes
into account both municipal as well as the storm-
water. However, due to the old designed facil-
ities (for more than 20 years), many cities
worldwide need a fresh design where modifica-
tions could be envisioned to incorporate the link-
ing of modular treatment facilities at several
points in a city. The distribution of different
wastewater types in total wastewater varies for
different countries. For example, in Canada
(2006), about 65% of the total wastewater had a
residential origin, while the industrial, commer-
cial, and institutional sectors were responsible
for about 18% of municipal produced waste-
water (Holeton et al., 2011). Meanwhile, storm-
water accounted for 9% of sewer flows, and the
remainder (8%) resulted from groundwater infil-
tration into sewer systems (Holeton et al., 2011).
Thus, modern design or any needed modifica-
tion for a city sewerage system could be planned
15
specifically based on the distribution of waste-
water category. This way, an efficient and perti-
nent modular treatment system can be designed
considering the smart guidelines that may be
required in the future.
Wastewater treatment aims to reduce impu-
rities/pollutants like solids, biodegradable
organic materials, pathogens, and toxic com-
pounds. Then, the effluent would meet the regu-
latory requirement and be released to the stream
water or used as the source of drinking water.
Wastewater treatment in conventional WWTPs
consists of different unit operations and pro-
cesses to remove pollutants step by step. Each
step, such as pretreatment, primary treatment,
and secondary treatment, uses various equip-
ment and technology to remove contamination
based on their size. The load on each treatment
unit could be reduced drastically by treating
the wastewater near its origin. The provision of
decentralized treatment facilities or modular
treatment approaches could be convenient in
meeting stricter discharge guidelines practiced
in recent years because of new policy changes.
However, the degree of dominance of the
centralized socio-technical regime is geographi-
cally varied. Many countries such as the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and
Switzerland have developed very high penetra-
tions of their modular systems and enforced cen-
tral connection rates close to 100% (Indicators,
2005). Lower connection rates are found in
other countries where large segments of the pop-
ulation are served by more or less functional
decentralized wastewater treatment systems.
Japan is a notable example that the development
of small-scale treatment units known as Johkasou
results in a current connection rate of 78%
(Indicators, 2005).
2.2.1 Pretreatment
In the pretreatment process, large particles
like wood pieces and fabrics can be physically
16 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment
separated. If these materials go to the next level,
they may cause excessive wear and tear on
pumps, and other plant equipment and opera-
tional problems may interrupt the system (Riffat,
2012). In particular, these large particles could be
segregated intermittently at few critical places
before the wastewater drains into the waste-
water plant facilities. This periodical collection
of big materials in parallel to the sewer pipelines
(by-pass sewer lines) could effectively control
their direct entry to the WWTP. The use of
modular treatment systems inside the cities at
various points could also help prevent the un-
wanted intrusion of these oversize materials up
to a great extent. Several industries require pre-
treatment facilities or on-site treatment due to
the nature of their wastewater to meet regulatory
requirements or recover water or products (Pat-
terson, 1985).
Some examples of equipment for the primary
treatments are discussed further.
Bar screens: It stops more oversized items
from entering the treatment equipment, removes
the outliers from the sewage, and makes the
sewage more homogenous. Items removed
would be sent to the landfill stations. Screens
can be cleaned manually or mechanically. Manu-
ally cleaned screens are smaller and suitable for
small plants, and they have low maintenance
and operation costs. Mechanically cleaned
screens have a bigger size and low labor costs.
Fig. 2.2 depicts a recent and ingenious idea that
could be installed and regularized at the “point”
of wastewater discharge (from industry or farm-
lands) that eventually goes directly into the cen-
tral sewage pipelines or treatment facility. These
mesh drains captures a huge amount of plastics
(big sized) and also the debris of floating plants
and other inert materials.
Shredder/grinder: The larger particles would
go into the shredder/grinder to be reduced in
size. Usually, a shredder consists of two sets of
counter-rotating cutters that use sheer force to
reduce the solid size. After size reduction, the
FIGURE 2.2 Mesh drains to prevent bigger plastics and
debris to get into the central sewer pipelines or other direct
water body discharges.
materials can be back to the wastewater to be
processed in the following steps. A shredder re-
duces the damage and maintenance of the down-
stream equipment but increases the volume of
particles like plastic and decomposable materials
in digestion tanks.
Grit removal: Grit is the name for particles
heavier than biodegradable organic materials in
wastewater. It can comprise sand, gravel, cinder,
eggshell, coffee seeds, and food waste. Grit can
cause wear and abrasion in pumps and mechan-
ical equipment, so grit removal is a necessary
step. Grit cannot be removed by using chemicals,
and special equipment should be applied. There
are different types of grit removal equipment:
• Vortex type grit chamber: Flow enters a
cylindrical tank and creates a vortex flow
pattern. Heavy particles settled in the bottom
of the tank by gravity. These could also be a
part of modular treatment systems as they
occupy less space than a conventional grit
chamber.
• Aerated grit chamber: Here, the wastewater
flows in a spiral pattern. Air introduced in the
grit chamber causes a change in velocity
pattern and heavier particles settled in the
tank’s bottom.
 2.2 Wastewater treatment infrastructure
• Detritus tank: Here, the wastewater flows in a
constant-level, short-detention settling tank.
Organic materials would be washed up.
• Hydrocyclone: Using a high head pump,
wastewater pumps into a cylinder that has a
cone-shaped bottom. Heavier and larger
particles go to the bottom of and exit from the
cone stream, while light and small particles
exit through the upstream. These could also
be used as a part of a modular treatment
system. These systems could be handy,
especially in handling the kitchen wastewater
or restaurant wastewater, where the modular
treatment system containing hydrocyclone
could efficiently dewater the organic waste
and could be utilized for other purposes such
as washing the dishes/utensils.
The pretreatment process in modular design
can be adjusted with the properties in waste-
water to properly handle the separation of their
material for the next level of treatment. The pre-
treatment module is necessary for collecting
wastewaters because large particles can affect
the efficiency of all modules and piping.
2.2.2 Primary treatment
The primary treatment process follows the
pretreatment step. In this stage, using primary
clarifiers, materials are settled down and be
removed continuously from the bottom using a
mechanical force. Clarified water would be
removed from the top of the tank and goes to
the next step. In this step, only particles larger
than 10 mm would be removed, so effluent with
mainly organic particles less than 10 microns
would remain. The solids generated from this
step would be called sludge. The sludge is full
of organic material that can be used as a fertil-
izer. For enhancing the settling velocity of parti-
cles in the clarifier, some chemicals are used,
such as flocculent (like chitosan) and coagulant
(aluminum-based like aluminum sulfate,
aluminum chloride, and sodium aluminate and
17
iron-based like polyferric sulfate). These chemi-
cals help that small particles stick together to
make larger particles and enhance the settling
velocity (Zouboulis et al., 2007).
A combination of physical and chemical
methods in modular treatment can efficiently
remove such organic particles. For example, elec-
trocoagulation has been successfully applied for
wastewater treatment of food (Karpuzcu et al.,
2002), textile (Kim et al., 2002), metal and galva-
nized metal, and petrochemical industries
(Meng et al., 2002). Bashir et al. (2019) evaluated
electro-coagulation-peroxidation for the treat-
ment of palm oil mill effluent. The optimum
treatment efficiency of 71.3%, 96.8%, and 100%
for COD, color, and TSS was obtained, respec-
tively. In a study, peroxymonosulfate-assisted
electro-oxidation/coagulation combined with a
ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) membrane was
applied for micropolluted surface water treat-
ment. This technique could offer a suitable
effluent for sulfamethazine degradation (Du
et al., 2019). However, research on modular
treatment systems using electrocoagulation
modules is still limited, and more work needs
to be done as far as bridging the future gap is
concerned. With appropriate knowledge and
technology, the modular treatment system
could become an integral part of the city
sewerage system that could significantly remove
the economic constraints over its wide-ranged
benefit.
2.2.3 Secondary treatment
In secondary treatment, the focus is on the
degradation of biological sewage content. For
this purpose, different steps like aeration, filtra-
tion, and clarification should be followed.
• Aeration: Effluent from the previous step
flows into the aeration basins, in which tiny
air blowers in the bottom of the basins create
bubbles. Microorganisms present in the
returned activated sludge (RAS) would use
18 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment
organic materials in the effluent water. For
this process, a significant amount of bacteria
uses a vast amount of oxygen.
• Secondary clarifiers: After the aeration
process, the effluent pumps into the
secondary filter or clarifier. The sludge would
be removed and pumped back to the aeration
tank.
• Disinfection process: Clarified water from the
secondary clarifier would go to the
disinfection process (that can be considered as
tertiary treatment). About 85% of solids are
removed from the sewage water till this step,
but disinfection is still necessary. There are
three different ways for disinfection: chlorine,
ozone, and ultraviolet disinfection. Each
method has its benefits and drawbacks.
• Chlorine: Chemicals like concentrated bleach
would be added to the effluent and disinfects
the living organisms in the water. Chlorine
must be removed before it can be discharged
so it does not kill anything in the discharge
location.
• Ozone: Using an electrical current, oxygen
(O2) molecules would react, and ozone (O3)
would be formed. Ozone is a strong oxidant
and would cause damages to microbe cells.
• Ultraviolet: The last method uses ultraviolet
light to affect bacteria DNA, so they cannot
multiply. In this method, bacteria would be
sterilized. The bacteria are still alive, but it is
harmless.
After the last step, the water can be added to
the lake or stream or sent to a drinking water
treatment plant to be ready for consumption.
However, tertiary treatment can be designed
based on wastewater characteristics. The entire
process of wastewater treatment may take be-
tween 24 and 36 h. As each wastewater source
is unique, selecting a biological module to meet
particular treatment objectives in modular sys-
tems should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis
and adjusted based on water quality criteria. For
example, a sequencing batch biofilter granular
reactor consisting of a mixture of biofilm and
granules packed in a filling material can be effec-
tively applied for textile wastewater treatment
(Lotito et al., 2014). This system consists of a sin-
gle basin and can be used in a modular system to
simplify the treatment scheme for wastewaters
characterized by a high content of recalcitrant
compounds such as textile effluents.
2.2.4 Tertiary treatment
Tertiary (also called advanced) treatment
removes dissolved pollutants, such as metals,
remaining nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen)
and organic chemicals, microbes, and some
micropollutants. The treatment processes are
categorized into three main methods: chemical,
physical, and biological (as shown in Fig. 2.1).
Previous studies have concluded that many
micropollutants should be removed from waste-
water by advanced tertiary treatments. Based on
EPA (2012) report, the most common tertiary
treatments implemented in the United States
are UV irradiation (used in 285 facilities), chlori-
nation (used in 1133 facilities), and sand filtra-
tion (used in 245 facilities).
Choosing a suitable disinfectant for tertiary
treatment is dependent on the following criteria:
1. Safe and easy storage, handling, and shipping
2. Ability to work and destroy infectious
compounds under normal operating
condition,
3. Absence of carcinogenic and mutagenetic
compounds or toxic residual after the
disinfection process (Disinfection, 1999).
Advanced oxidation processes are also
considered as a tertiary treatment that can be
used for aqueous waste. Fenton’s reagents as
advance oxidative compounds are effectively
used for biological oxygen demand (BOD)/
chemical oxygen demand (COD), odor, and co-
lor removal. Fenton’s treatment requires a large
amount of H2O2 and FeSO4 in the treatment
 2.3 Macropollutants in water and sludge
process, and the H2O2/Fe2þ ratio is vital for the
efficient treatment process. To maximize waste
degradation by Fenton’s reagents, the reaction
conditions like temperature and pH should
also be optimized. Based on most literature,
30 C is the optimum temperature for waste
degradation by Fenton’s oxidation; however,
this may vary based on the characteristics of ef-
fluents (Ramirez et al., 2005; Alaton and Teksoy,
2007; Mandal et al., 2010).
Ultrafiltration as a physical tertiary treatment
method can effectively remove bacteria and vi-
ruses from wastewater. UF is a membrane sepa-
ration technology that separates solutions
between microfiltration and nanofiltration and
removes particles with an approximate size of
0.005e10 mm. This ability makes UF the ideal
technology for tertiary treatment to protect the
public from pathogens. High cost, membrane
fouling, and membrane life are still significant
constraints for the application of UF for waste-
water treatment, while this technology is consid-
ered a promising technique for industrial
wastewater and drinking water treatment
(Cordier et al., 2020). As mentioned above, UF
can be considered as an effective treatment
method for modular systems to treat micropol-
luted water.
Nowadays, biotechnology is recognized as
the best available technology for odor treatment
by membrane bioreactors (MBRs) and biofilters
due to their lower operating costs and environ-
mental impact than their physicalechemical
counterparts. Biofiltration and biotrickling filtra-
tion are conventional biotechnologies that are
mainly implemented for odor elimination by
removing the hydrophobic fraction of volatile
organic compounds (VOCs). Generally, the pres-
ence of a water layer over the biofilm attached to
the packing material in biofilters and biotrickling
filters (conventional design) limits the mass
transfer of the most hydrophobic VOCs from
the gaseous phase to the aqueous biofilm. How-
ever, advanced designs under nonmass transfer
limiting conditions guarantee a cost-effective
19
treatment for removing a hydrophobic fraction
of VOCs (Lebrero et al., 2014).
Membrane bioreactors are designed based on
a membrane (microfiltration or ultrafiltration)
and the microbial community attached to the
membrane (biological wastewater treatment)
for nutrient removal as well as odor control.
The membranes have a solideliquid separation
function (tertiary treatment), and the suspended
microbial growth has function biological treat-
ment (secondary treatment). The advantages of
MBR are a reduced footprint, approximately
30%e50% smaller than conventional secondary
treatment and tertiary filtration methods, and
allow for the direct reuse of the treated water.
Considering membrane technology used in
MBRs, complete elimination of microorganisms
can be achieved in the effluent, and also a high
removal ratio for most abiotic contaminants is re-
ported. Bioreactor configuration can make this
technology suitable for the selective extraction
of the target pollutants (Lebrero et al., 2014).
These membrane technologies are highly in de-
mand for modular treatment solutions. They
are placed in the lorries referred to as “treatment
on wheels” by many reputed global companies
that provide an efficient and productive way to
treat wastewater, wherever applicable. MBR
can be ideally suited also for small plants poten-
tially subject to relatively large hydraulic load
variations; its investment and operating costs
are usually high for that class of applications. It
is becoming the industry standard for central-
ized WWTP.
2.3 Macropollutants in water and sludge
There are two primary source contaminants
for water: (1) Natural contaminants and (2) arti-
ficial by-products. Natural contaminants are
mainly the geological materials presented in wa-
ter due to water moving through soils and sedi-
mentary rocks (attrition effects). A wide range of
compounds at an unacceptable level can be
20 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment
considered water contaminants such as chloride,
calcium, magnesium, arsenate, nitrate, fluoride,
and iron (Sharma and Bhattacharya, 2017). Arti-
ficial by-products are mainly generated from in-
dustrial and agricultural activities that include
primarily heavy metals such as mercury, chro-
mium, copper, lead, other hazardous chemicals
like dyes, and other compounds like fertilizers
and pesticides. Improper disposing or sorting
household or industrial chemicals such as disin-
fectants, synthetic detergents, paints, solvents,
medicines, batteries, pool chemicals, oils, diesel
fuel, and gasoline can lead to groundwater
contamination (Sharma and Bhattacharya, 2017).
Hence, the modular treatment facilities across
a city in the form of decentralized water treat-
ment could target water pollutants specifically
related to the area or wastewater sector. For
example, near the agricultural lands sector in a
city, the modular treatment system could be
installed dealing with pesticides/fertilizer pol-
lutants before being sent to the central or main
sewer city pipelines, finally draining into the
WTP facility. In addition, modular systems can
offer several inherent advantages compared to
traditional systems agricultural lands sector,
including very low capital costs, lower operating
costs, simplicity of design, less infrastructure,
and ease of operation.
2.3.1 In drinking water
Drinking water typically contains dissolved
substances, as mentioned above, and a small
amount of very finely divided solid particles of
several kinds. These solid particles are composed
of organic and inorganic materials of varying
sizes ranging from colloidal dimensions to about
100 mm (Levine et al., 1985). They include human
activities debris such as clays, acicular or fibrous
particles of asbestos minerals, and organic parti-
cles resulting from animal and plant debris
decomposition in the soil. These suspended
solids might have effects on the health of those
who drink macro-pollutant contaminated water.
Some of these particles, such as the asbestos
mineral fibers, have biological effects in water
since similar fibers are known to be carcinogenic
when air is heavily laden with them. However,
because of other contaminants of drinking water,
organic colloid and clays, no evidence has been
discovered that directly affects health. Neverthe-
less, it is possible that these contaminants, as
they occur in water, may indirectly affect the
quality of water because they can adsorb a vari-
ety of viruses, bacteria, and toxic substrates from
suspension or solution. Thus, their occurrence
characterization should be studied to find out if
they serve to protect some water pollutants
and concentrate them or not. A great deal of
effort has been made to obtain background infor-
mation from suspended particulate matter in
treated and raw drinking water supplies in
different typical communities. However, such a
study should be coupled with the characteriza-
tion of particulates concerning shape, composi-
tion, size, and adsorbed constituents and
analysis of accompanying inorganic and organic
material and microorganisms. It seems that in-
formation is required to study biological,
organic, and inorganic toxicants adsorbed on
organic and clay particulates (Council and
Committee, 1977). This information could be
effectively utilized for improving the modular
or decentralized treatment approach.
Different types of macropollutants have been
recognized, including clay particles, inorganic
and organic pollutants that their properties are
discussed here, together with the tendency of
bacterial, viruses, and chemicals to become
concentrated at the surface of these particles.
Macropollutants can be physically removed
from drinking water by various processes. The
sizes of the macropollutants are significant for
their removal by sedimentation and filtration.
Sometimes, water quality can be improved by
storing it undisturbed or holding it without
 2.4 Micropollutants in water and wastewater
mixing long enough to settle out or sediment of
large particles by gravity. Since ancient times,
sedimentation has been applied because of
simplicity and low cost using settling basins or
water storage vessels, storage tanks, and reser-
voirs. Storing water even for a few hours will
sediment the dense and large particles, such as
sands and silts, large microorganisms, and any
microbes associated with denser, larger particles.
Although sedimentation is an effective method
to reduce water turbidity, it is not consistently
effective in reducing macropollutants such as
microbial contaminants. This is important to
point out that recovering the supernatant water
should be done with care to avoid disturbing
the sedimented particles. Water should also be
protected from contaminants during storage
and collection after settling, and procedures
and cleaning systems should be applied to clean
the storage vessel.
Filtration is another effective method to
remove macropollutants that is also widely
used since ancient times. The ease of use, practi-
cality, availability, affordability, and accessi-
bility of these filtration media make this
method wide. Table 2.1 shows a variety of filter
media and available filtration processes. Filtra-
tion can be considered a necessary module for
modular systems because most package plants
use water filtration processes and are typically
not equipped for corrosion control, disinfection,
and adsorption of organic pollutants by acti-
vated carbon.
2.3.2 In wastewater
Macropollutants in wastewater can be
defined as inert materials and large suspended
solids that are mainly removed through prelim-
inary treatment. Physical treatment is mainly
used in preliminary treatment to remove such
particles that may damage the mechanical part
of the equipment in unit operations such as
pumps. These floating or suspended materials
21
include weeds, rags, organic matter, twigs, and
various solids. Screening devices are used to
remove the larger materials before entering the
wastewater stream to the pumps (as shown in
Table 2.2). The removed materials are usually
incinerated or disposed of in landfills. Different
types of screens can be designed based on waste-
water characteristics that can determine the size
of the openings of screens (Riffat, 2012). Screen
filters can be effectively combined in modular
systems based on the water quality needs, and
for industrial users, this module can be adjusted
to address the specific problems and quality ob-
jectives in their wastewater treatment.
2.4 Micropollutants in water and
wastewater
Micropollutants are compounds found in wa-
ter with a concentration in a range of microgram
to less than nano-gram per liter of water (mg/L to
below ng/L). All these chemicals are similar in
one aspect, and that is persistence. These com-
pounds could be found in wastewater. For
example, when a person washes face with a
dedicated cosmetic, its ingredients would go to
the wastewater, and since WWTPs cannot
remove them altogether, they partially go to
the effluent and would end up in stream water.
Also, some part of these compounds would
remain in the sludge, and since the sludge is
used as fertilizer, these compounds would find
their way to the ground and finally go to the un-
derground water.
Different compounds (ammonia, perchlorate,
arsenate), metals (Al, Hg, Fe, Cs, etc) and micro-
organisms (bacteria, protozoa) can be found in
water. In addition to these categories of micro-
pollutants, the emergence of other pollutants in
the environment (i.e., antimicrobial agents/dis-
infectants, fungicides, detergents, herbicides, fra-
grances, organochlorine, and organophosphorus
insecticides, as well as plasticizers) has been
noticed (Kim and Zoh, 2016). Table 2.3 shows
22 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment

TABLE 2.1 Characterization of Filters and Filtration Media for the Treatment of Drinking Water.

Filter type Media of filter Filter design Ease of use Cost Advances

Granular Sand, crushed • Bucket Easy to Low to Coating or co-mingling sand, coal,
media filters sandstone, anthracite, or filter moderate moderate and other common negatively
(rapid filter) other soft rock, charcoal, • Barrel or charged granular media with metal
and other minerals drum filter oxides and hydroxides of iron,
• Roughing aluminum, calcium, or magnesium
filter
Sand filter Sand ND Easy to Low to Using multiple filter units
moderate moderate
Fiber, fabric, Cloth, other woven • Cone- Easy to Varies: Low Advanced fabrication methods,
paper, fabric, wick siphons, shaped moderate for natural; special filter holders
canvas, synthetic polymers filter high for
membrane synthetics
filters
Vegetable- Sponge, coal, charcoal, • Sponge Moderate to Low to Combinations of layers made of
and animal- cotton, etc filters difficult moderate different biomass
derived
depth filters
Ceramic Clay, other minerals • Vessels Moderate. Moderate to Made of different mineral media,
filters and • Hollow Physically high such as clay, glass, diatomaceous
other porous cylindrical cleaning is earth, and other fine particles to
cast filters candles needed advance their efficiency based on
regularly pore size.

TABLE 2.2 Screens Used for Particle Removal.

The size
Type of range of Available
screen opening Characteristic Collected particle commercial type

Trash racks 50e150 mm Rectangular or circular steel bars Large debris and garbage • Rack machines
arranged in a parallel manner
Coarse 25e75 mm Two types: Automatic, Prevents excessive head loss by clogging • Chain-driven
screens mechanically cleaned bar screens • Reciprocating
rake
• Catenary
• Continuous
belt
Fine screens Less than They are located after coarse For the treatment of combined sewer • Static wedge
6 mm screens overflows wire screen
• Stair screen
• Drum screen

Microscreens Less than It involves low-speed rotating For fine solids removal from treated • Drum screens
50 mm drum screens effluents (used in the tertiary treatment) with fabric
filter
 2.4 Micropollutants in water and wastewater 23
TABLE 2.3 Classification of Micropollutants in Water (Drinking/Wastewater).

Molecular
weight Chemical Electrostatic Log Log
Categories Group Micropollutants (gmolL1) formula charge (pH 7) pKa Kow D

PhACs Antibiotics Erythromycin 733.93 C37H67NO13 Neutral 8.9 3.06 1.55

Roxithromycin 837.05 C41H76N2O15 Neutral 9.0 2.7 e
Ofloxacin 361.36 C18H20FN3O4 e 5.8 2.0 0.25
Sulfamethoxazole 253.3 C10H11N3O3S e 1.7; 5.6 0.89 0.45
Analgesic and anti- Acetaminophen 151 C8H9NO2 Neutral 9.5 0.46 0.23
inflammatory
Ibuprofen 206.29 C13H18O2 e 4.47 3.97 1.44
drugs
Naproxen 230 C14H14O3 e 4.2 3.18 0.34
Mefenamic acid 241.285 C15H15NO2 e 3.8 5.12 2.04
Fenoprofen 242 C15H14O3 e 4.21 3.9 0.38
Ketoprofen 254.28 C16H14O3 e 4.29 3.12 0.41
Indometacin 357.78 C19H16CINO4 e 3.8 4.23 0.75
Diclofenac 296.15 C14H11C12NO2 e 4.08 4.51 1.59

Antiepileptic drugs Primidone 218 C12H14N2O2 e 12 0.91 0.83

Carbamazepine 236.27 C15H12N2O Neutral 13 2.45 2.58
Blood lipid Clofibric acid 214.65 C10H11ClO3 e 3.35 2.57 3.6
regulators
Gemifibrozil 250.34 C15H22O3 e 4.45 4.77 4.12
Bezafibrate 361.82 C19H20CINO4 e 3.44 4.25 e
Pravastatin 24.53 C23H36O7 e 4.2 3.1 e

b-blockers Metoprolol 276.37 C15H25NO3 e 9.49 1.88

Propranolol 259.34 C16H21NO2 Neutral 9.6 3.48 e
Contrast media Iopromide 790.0 C18H24I3N3O8 e P1 ¼ 2 2.10 5.28
P2 ¼ 13
Iopamidol 777.1 C17H22I3N3O8 e 10.7 2.42 e
Iohexol 821.1 C19H26I3N3O9 e 11.7 3.05 e
Hormones Estrone 270.36 C18H22O2 Neutral 10.3 3.13 1.86
17C-estradiol 272.38 C18H24O2 Neutral 10.4 4.01 e

17a-ethinyl 296.4 C20H24O2 Neutral 10.3 3.9 e

estradiol
Estriol 288 C18H24O3 Neutral e 2.45 e

Cytostatic drugs Cyclophosphamide 260 C7H15Cl2N2O2P e 0.5 0.97 e

(Continued)
24 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment

TABLE 2.3 Classification of Micropollutants in Water (Drinking/Wastewater).dcont'd

Molecular
weight Chemical Electrostatic Log Log
Categories Group Micropollutants (gmolL1) formula charge (pH 7) pKa Kow D

PCPs Antimicrobial Triclosan 289.6 C12H7Cl3O2 Neutral 7.8 5.34 e

agents
Disinfectants Triclocarban 315.6 C13H9Cl3N2O Neutral 11.4 4.90 e
Preservatives Propyl-paraben 180.2 C10H12O3 Neutral 8.5 3.04 1.86
Methyl-paraben 152.15 C8H8O3 Neutral e e e

Insect repellent N,N-diethyl-m- 191.3 C12H17NO e 2 2.18 e

toluamide
Sunscreens Oxybenzone 228 C14H12O3 e e 3.79 e

Pesticides Herbicides Atrazine 215.68 C8H14ClN5 Neutral 1.7 2.6 e

Diuron 233.1 C9H10Cl2N2O Neutral 2.68 e e
Insecticides Diazinon 304.35 C12H21N2O3PS e 2.6 3.8 e
Fungicides Clotrimazole 344.84 C22H17ClN2 e e e e
Tebuconazole 307.82 C16H22ClN3O e e e e
Industrial Plasticizers Bisphenol A 228.29 C15H16O2 e 9.6 3.32 e
chemicals
DBP 278.34 C16H22O4 e e e e
DEHP 390.564 C24H38O4 e e e e
DMP 194.184 C10H10O4 e e e e
Fire retardants Tri(2-chloroethyl) 250.187 C9H15O6P e e 1.44 e
phosphate
Tri(chloropropyl) 327.57 C9H18Cl3O4P e e 2.59 e
phosphate

Modified from refs Khanzada et al. (2020), Taheran et al. (2016), Liu et al. (2013), Luo et al. (2014).

the classification of selected organic micropollu-
tants and their representative products. As can
be seen in Table 2.3, the log Kow (>2.5) and
pKa (a wide range of values) should be consid-
ered as the dominant properties of micropollu-
tants to study biotransformation and
adsorption of these compounds. The value of
log Kow should be the most crucial factor in the
process selection for the elimination of organic
micropollutants. On the other hand, the molecu-
lar weight of organic micropollutants would be
another important factor that should be
considered when membrane technologies are
used for their separation. The perspectives
on the usage of the modular system for this
type of pollutants will be further discussed in
Chapter 3.
2.4.1 In drinking water
The guidelines for drinking water quality
determine the efficiency of treatment processes.
These guidelines were established based on cur-
rent knowledge of health effects and aesthetic
 2.4 Micropollutants in water and wastewater
effects (e.g., taste and odor) of compounds.
However, many compounds are unknown in
terms of their health effects, and recently, they
have been taken into account for research on
their health. Still, operational considerations are
limited for these new pollutants. Table 2.4 pre-
sents the contaminants present in water before
and after treatment in the effluent of drinking
water treatment plants.
2.4.2 In wastewater
Municipal wastewater is mainly the constitu-
ents of organic matter, suspended solids, and
25
pathogens. The organic matter is measured indi-
rectly by oxygen demand methods such as BOD,
COD, etc. BOD is expressed in terms of oxygen
equivalents that are needed for the biodegrad-
ability of organic matters. Typically, 5-day
biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) is used as
a measure of organic concentration. The size
range of organic matter in wastewater can range
from less than 0.001 mm to over 100 mm. Nowa-
days, the main pollutants discharged into water
streams are organic and solid matter. Thus, effec-
tive measurement technologies and strategic
addition of agents, including flocculants, coagu-
lations, filter aids, and the application of

TABLE 2.4 Classification, Treatment Considerations, and Health Effect of Micropollutants from Drinking Water.

Important
compound/ Treatment
Category agent Source goal Health effect Treatment process Reference

Microorganisms Enteric Animal and Minimum 3 Commonly • Sedimentation Hsu and

protozoa human feces log and associated with • Microfiltration Yeh (2003),
(Giardia and C inactivation of gastrointestinal • Ozonation Canada
yptosporidium) oocysts/cysts upset (vomiting, (2020)
nausea, and
diarrhea).
Enteric Human Minimum 4 Gastrointestinal • Ultrafiltration Canada
viruses feces log upset (vomiting, • Flocculation (2020),
nausea, and • Aluminum hydroxide Bosch
diarrhea). (1998)

Bacteria Animal and Nondetectable Pose danger to • Activated sludge Canada

(E. coli) human feces in 100 mL public health • Electrocoagulation (2020),
Aguilar-
Ascon
(2019)

Chemical Ammonia, Naturally e Cancer, Different methods like Canada

perchlorate, occurring, microscopic filtration, ion exchange (2020),
Fe, Al, Cr, emission effects on organs using resins, precipitation Fischer
CN, Cd, Ca, from and tissues, by pH change, reverse et al.
As, etc. industrial neurological osmosis, electrodialysis, (2019), Xie
waste effects, etc. etc. et al. (2018)
Radiological Cesium, Naturally e Different types of Filtration, ion exchange, Canada
compounds radium, occurring, cancer reverse osmosis (2020),
indium, emission Baeza et al.
radon, from a (2019)
uranium, etc. nuclear
reactor, etc.
26 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment
optimized bacterial or fungal cultures, have
attracted researchers’ attention to improve treat-
ment practices’ performance. The discharge of
wastewater without treatment might have
adverse effects, such as depleting dissolved oxy-
gen, unacceptable changes of color, turbidity,
and solid content. Thus, the industry must
remove the main pollutants from wastewater.
Wastewater discharge from industries with the
main pollutants of organic matter and sus-
pended particles is controlled by regulations
that set limits on the amounts of biochemical ox-
ygen demand and total suspended solids (Riffat,
2012). The modular treatment units for small-
scale industries located in and around the city
would significantly reduce the load on the
main wastewater treatment facilities. In addi-
tion, each industrial wastewater can be treated
depending on the wastewater nature and
required quality before entering the main drain.
2.5 Water quality parameters
Turbidity and color are two terms commonly
applied in particulate removal practice.
Turbidity in water is due to suspended matter
(i.e., slit, clay plankton, nonliving organic partic-
ulate). The particles in a colloidal solution are
visible through the electron microscope but not
through the naked eye. However, the particles
in the suspension are visible through naked
eyes and under the electron microscope. Thus,
the turbidity measurement does not give com-
plete information about the mass, size, and num-
ber of particles that absorb light. Small particles
(those less than 0.1 mm, single viruses, and
many asbestos mineral particles) are not
detected by conventional measurements.
The presence of natural organic matter causes
the color in the water, and it may also be due to
particular industrial wastes and caused by some
metallic complexes. Turbidity and color mea-
surements are expressions of specific light scat-
tering and light absorption, respectively.
Particulate removal can be obtained using water
treatment practices such as filtration, sedimenta-
tion, softening, and coagulation. Softening is the
process by which calcium and magnesium ions
are removed from the water, and these pollut-
ants are usually removed as solids (i.e., magne-
sium hydroxide and calcium carbonate). Thus,
water-softening plants have sedimentation, and
filtration facilitates to separate solids from water
by gravity. Coagulation is another process in
which colloidal particles can be destabilized us-
ing suitable coagulants and promote the aggre-
gation of particles for their removal by
dissolved air flotation and sedimentation. Mate-
rials suspended (particle size up to 100 mm) in
drinking water such as organic and inorganic
solids may also have some other microorgan-
isms and substrate attached to them. Carbona-
ceous constituents measured by BOD or COD
analysis are essential to the activated sludge pro-
cess design. Unlike BOD, some portion of the
COD is not bridgeable, and it is important to
know how much of the COD is particulate
comprised of suspended solids and colloidal.
So, total COD in the wastewater is soluble (unfil-
terable) and suspended COD (colloidal and par-
ticulate biodegradable and nonbiodegradable)
that nonbridgeable particulates will contribute
to the total sludge production. Even though sol-
uble readily biodegradable COD is assimilated
quickly by the biomass during the activated
sludge process design, the colloidal and particu-
late COD must first be dissolved by extracellular
enzymes and are thus assimilated slowly.
Depending on surface functional groups, particle
size, charge, and colloidal stability of COD par-
ticulates change up to 10 mm. The presence of
pollutants with ionic character can also cause
or support the aggregation of humic and fulvic
particles. Secondary treatment for the biological
breakdown of biodegradable particles has been
recommended to reduce the biochemical oxygen
demand, toxicity, and total suspended solids.
Table 2.5 shows that even though many kinds
of particles are harmless in themselves; they may
 2.5 Water quality parameters 27
TABLE 2.5 Water quality parameters, souces, concern, and issues the aquatic environment.

Category Important
(parameter) subclasses Major sources Removal technique Concern and issues Effect on health

Clay particle • Clay mineral • Clays are in soils • Conventional • The amorphous • Clays and
components (the and sediments treatment plants hydroxide flocs organic colloids
phyllosilicates) formed during are effective in formed in many have not any
• Nonclay-mineral soil development turbidity coagulation direct effect on
such as iron, through the removal and processes can health. However,
aluminum weathering of since clay adsorb trace both may
oxides, quartz, parent minerals comprises a metals and indirectly affect
hydroxides, significant organic the quality of
amorphous portion of compounds. drinking water
silica, feldspar natural turbidity, Hence, if they due to the fact
clay suspensions pass through that they can
can be removed filters and into adsorb a variety
by filtration and the treated water, of toxic
coagulation they may carry substances,
other substances bacteria, and
with them. viruses from
solution or
suspension
Particulate • Organic • Municipal and • Color and many • It may increase ND
organic matter macromolecules industrial waste other organic lead and copper
such as humic disposal is a macromolecules concentration in
and fulvic acid major source of and particulates treated water
• All nonliving organic can be removed • It favors the
material (e.g., particulate by conventional development of
amorphous matter in natural processes. For biofilms in the
organic matter, waters that serve example, humic distribution
detritus) as sources for and fulvic acids system
drinking water can be • Formation of
coagulated by halomethanes
iron (III) and and other
aluminum (III) chlorinated
salts organics
• Measurement of
particulate
content by
turbidimetry is
imprecise and
cannot be relied
upon as a sole
indicator of the
safety of an
uncharacterized
drinking water
source

(Continued)
28 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment

TABLE 2.5 Water quality parameters, souces, concern, and issues the aquatic environment.dcont'd

Category Important
(parameter) subclasses Major sources Removal technique Concern and issues Effect on health

Mineral fibers • Amphibole and • Synthetic mineral • Amphibole fibers • The ubiquitous •There is concern
chrysotile fibers fibers, called slag can be removed occurrence of over the
wool or rock by coagulation fibrous or biological effects
wool, are and filtration. acicular of the mineral
produced by • Considerable minerals, as well fibers such as
blowing air or difficulties have as the wide asbestos that
steam through been reported for variation in occur in water
molten rock or small and composition, and • Evidence from
slag positively similarities of studies in both
• Man-made charged crystallographic people and lab
vitreous (silicate) chrysotile fibers make the animals has
fibers are a group analysis of shown that
of materials that environmental asbestos can
include samples most increase the risk
refractory difficult for some types of
ceramic fibers, cancer
glass wool,
special-purpose
glass fibers, rock
wool, slag wool
and continuous
glass filaments
Microbiological • Large ND • Large • Escaping of •There is also
particulates microorganisms microorganisms microbial strong evidence that
including including amebic particulates: microbes may
amebic cysts cysts and algae • Aggregation and contribute to many
and algae are readily survival: Some noninfectious
removed by aspects of the chronic diseases
filtration from resistance to such as some forms
properly disinfection of of cancer and
pretreated water viruses that have coronary heart
• 100% removal of been attributed disease. Different
microorganisms to the association diseases are caused
is not feasible between organic by different types of
particulate microorganisms
materials to
produce
complex.

ND: not determined.

indirectly affect water quality by acting as vehi-
cles and releasing pollutants under different con-
ditions. The above-mentioned water treatment
practice can effectively remove most of the solids
suspended in water; however, the conventional
technique of measuring and detecting the
presence of particles using turbidity has serious
deficiencies. Thus, the development of standard-
ized methods is necessary to determine particle
size distribution and concentration using an op-
tical technique such as adsorption and light scat-
tering (Rieger and Ditl, 1994).
 2.6 Bottlenecks and limitations of centralized drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities
Pulp and paper industry wastewater treat-
ment practice is one example of the presence of
particulate and colloids such as carbohydrate
and lignin-related compounds in the stream
that resulted in a high value of BOD, turbidity,
and even toxicity. The presence of toxic sub-
stances such as dioxins in effluents from pulp
bleaching and its adsorption on particles
resulted in the transport and protection of them
from removal by water treatment. Conventional
wastewater treatment systems comprising pri-
mary clarification followed by activated sludge
processes have been applied in the pulp and pa-
per industry. At higher levels of pollutants, the
removal of contaminants has been achieved by
supplementary treatments, including anaerobic
biological stages, bioreactors, advanced oxida-
tion processes, and membrane filtration practice
(Hubbe et al., 2016). Also, these supplementary
treatments can be served as a modular system
to decrease the load of mentioned contaminates
before entering to the wastewater treatment
facilities.
2.6 Bottlenecks and limitations of
centralized drinking water and wastewater
treatment facilities
A municipal WWTP is designed to work with
conventional household wastewater. If uncon-
ventional wastewater enters the WWTP, the effi-
ciency of treatment changes. One example of
unconventional wastewater would be HWW.
Different unconventional pollutants can be
found in HWW, such as various toxic or persis-
tent substances such as hazardous chemical
substances, pharmaceuticals, pathogens, radio-
nuclides and radioisotopes, radiographic devel-
opers, solvents, endocrine disruptors, and
disinfectants in a wide range of concentrations
(Yan et al., 2020). Even feces and patients’ urine
contain high amounts of antibiotics, the metabo-
lites of pharmaceuticals, cytotoxics, and X-ray
contrast media. It is reported that a hospital, as
29
a significant point source, can discharge approx-
imately 700 kg of pharmaceuticals in the marine
environment annually. Untreated HWW, which
contains high concentration norovirus and
antibiotic-resistance bacteria, causes the death
of zebrafishes and crustaceans after 96 h of expo-
sure (Casas et al., 2015). Thus, the proper man-
agement, treatment, and disposal of HWW
before entering the main drain can decrease in-
ternational concerns.
Most countries across the world did not have
a good distinction between HWW and urban/
domestic wastewater. According to WHO safe
management of wastes, the direct discharge of
hazardous chemical and liquids wastes (e.g.,
pharmaceuticals) to the sewer is strictly pro-
hibited. A separate pretreatment is required for
such wastewater. The pretreatment can involve
filtering, autoclaving, and acidebase neutraliza-
tion. European pill project (2010e12) reported
the effective treatment of HWW in terms of phar-
maceutical compounds using membrane biofilm
reactor and ozone/UV/H2O2/RO treatment
(Kovalova et al., 2013). For the first time, a full-
scale hospital WWTP was constructed in
Denmark in 2013. The Herlev hospital was
considered a significant point source. Its
WWTP consists of secondary treatment with
two biological tanks followed by the adsorption
with granular-activated carbon, ozonation, and
UV radiation (Casas et al., 2015). A modular sys-
tem can be applied for the source removal of
medical contaminants from HWW. The modular
design can be placed on-site like hospitals,
elderly homes, or pharmaceutical companies to
remove the pollutants before entering the main
wastewater system.
Since HWW contains a wide range of chemi-
cals and microbiological compounds that make
its treatment different, two approaches are
considered HWW. In some countries such as
the United States, Italy, and France, it is regarded
as industrial wastewater, so HWW can be dis-
charged to municipal sewage after a different
treatment. This separate treatment can be varied
30 2. Characteristic of wastewater and drinking water treatment
from a simple pretreatment to separate on-
site treatment. So, HWW can be treated in an
on-site HWWTP using the modular treatment
system or technologies, and effluent can be dis-
charged to WW main streams. No need to
mention that in this method, HWW sludge
should be managed carefully. For example, Her-
lev Hospital (Copenhagen, Denmark) employs a
modular system that contains filtration, biolog-
ical purification, activated carbon, and ozone to
remove the pharmaceutical active substances
(Hartmann et al., 1998).
In other countries, the different treatment of
HWW is not considered, and untreated HWWs
are discharged directly to the municipal WW.
In this case, the effluent of WWTP should be
monitored more carefully. In the effluent, the
measurements of specific pollutants are
required, such as adsorbable organic halogens,
disinfectants, detergents, surfactant, sulfates, cy-
anides, organophosphates, total nitrogen, total
and free chlorine, heavy metals, and rarely
microbiological indicators (total coliform, fecal
coliform, or Escherichia coli).
However, it is noticeable that pollutant
removal by advanced treatment inevitably re-
quires additional financial costs that some coun-
tries cannot afford it. As mentioned previously,
most industrial wastewater stream effluents
contain a complex mixture of various organic
compounds and solid particulates. A variety of
challenges reported for those who set out to
remove macropollutants from the industrial
wastewater depend on the wastewater nature
and required quality needed. Operating cost is
one criterion that should be considered to obtain
successful treatment. Advanced oxidation sys-
tems that can eliminate some of the highly
colored and most challenging toxic components
from industrial effluent have been criticized for
their high operating cost. However, membrane
treatment practice is becoming more popular
because of a substantial reduction in membrane
price.
Greenhouse gas emission is the other criteria
to choose for appropriate treatment practice.
Even though improved efficiencies often can be
obtained using modern reactors designed for
biological wastewater treatment, these facilities
may require electricals energy (high) compared
to conventional treatment systems. Replacing
thermophilic with mesophilic (medium tempera-
ture) conditions in biological treatment plants
might save some electricity. However, studies
showed higher performance of thermophilic in
many cases. Researchers usually recommend
anaerobic wastewater treatment operations
because they generate methane that can be
retrieved. Quantity of sludge is the last but not
least factor that should be minimized and
remove pollutants from the wastewater.
Focusing on anaerobic biological treatment as
an early step in the treatment program and ther-
mophilic natural treatment systems can achieve
better efficiency and lower sludge amounts
(LaPara and Alleman, 1999; Skouteris et al.,
2012).
Petroleum industries and refineries wastewa-
ters mainly contain oil, organic matter, and other
petroleum compounds. Pretreatment can reduce
the concentration of oil, grease, and suspended
materials. However, advanced treatment is
needed to decrease/degrade the pollutants to
acceptable discharge values. The critical parame-
ters in treatment techniques for petroleum
wastewater are COD, BOD, oil and grease, total
petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), sulfate, and phe-
nols. Biological techniques (Wang et al., 2015),
adsorption (Al Hashemi et al., 2015), chemical
oxidation (Hu et al., 2015), and coagulation
(Farajnezhad and Gharbani, 2012) should be
advanced in conventional treatment plants to
remove the organic matter from petroleum
wastewater. Using advanced treatment in a
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municipal wastewater systems.
2.7 Conclusion
Modular systems can be designed in a way
that provides all the advantages of conventional
water treatment systems. Since they are prefabri-
cated, packages can be easily installed for indus-
trial and residential areas. The modular systems
are flexibly designed to deal with specific prob-
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treatment biological and tertiary modules
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system can be placed on-site to reduce the over-
all cost of treatments; however, these systems’
choice depends on source water quality, treat-
ment targets, operating, and maintenance costs.
However, a modular treatment system may still
be financially out of reach for some underdevel-
oped communities.
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 CHAPTER IV
HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN
The ‘Viennese period’ and the three great classics—Joseph
Haydn; Haydn’s clavier sonatas; the Variations in F minor—W. A.
Mozart; Mozart as pianist and improvisator; Mozart’s sonatas; his
piano concertos—Ludwig van Beethoven; evolution of the modern
pianoforte—Musical qualities of Beethoven’s piano music;
Beethoven’s technical demands; his pianoforte sonatas; his piano
concertos; conclusion.

The association of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven with Vienna

affords historians a welcome license to give to a conspicuous epoch
in the development of music a local habitation and a name. Their
work is commonly granted to constitute a more or less definite era
known as the Viennese period. All three speak, as it were, a
common idiom. There is a distinct family likeness between their
separate accomplishments. They were personally acquainted.
Haydn and Mozart were warm friends, despite the difference in years
between them. Mozart was among the first in Vienna to recognize
the greatness latent in Beethoven, who later was for a while even the
pupil of Haydn. Moreover, all three reckoned among their friends the
same families, even the same men and women. The three great men
now sit on golden chairs, enshrined in the same niche, Beethoven
considerably to the fore.

The insulation which circumstances of time and space may seem to

have woven about them proves upon investigation to be quite
imperfect. To begin with, Bach was but a year dead, D. Scarlatti still
alive, and Rameau with more than a decade yet to live when Haydn
was writing his first mass and along with it clavier sonatas for the
benefit of his few pupils. Mozart had written his three immortal
symphonies in 1786, before Emanuel Bach had ceased publishing
his sonatas for Kenner und Liebhaber. On the other end, Moscheles
was a famous though very young pianist before Beethoven had half
done writing sonatas; and Carl von Weber’s Freischütz had begun to
act upon the precocious Richard Wagner before Beethoven had
completed his ninth symphony, his last sonata, his great mass and
his great quartets.

Merely as regards pianoforte technique the period was a transitional

one. Even the Beethoven sonatas as late as opus 27 were published
for either harpsichord or pianoforte. Both Mozart and Beethoven
were influenced by men who, in a narrow sense, seem far more than
they to belong to a modern development. Clementi, for example,
deliberately burned his harpsichords and clavichords behind him in
the very year Beethoven was born, and from then on gave up his life
to the discovery of new possibilities and effects upon the pianoforte,
by which his pupils Cramer and Field paved the way for Chopin.

Yet, all signs to the contrary, the Viennese period remains a period of
full fruition, and this because of the extraordinary genius of the men
whose works have defined it. Each was highly and specially gifted
and poured into forms already made ready for him a musical
substance of rare and precious quality. In considering keyboard
music we have to deal mostly with this substance, in fact with the
musical expression of three unusual and powerful personalities.

It is to be regretted that Haydn and even Mozart have been in no

small measure eclipsed by Beethoven. This is especially true of their
keyboard music. It may be questioned whether this be any more just
for being seemingly natural. There are many reasons to account for
it. The most obvious is the more violent and fiery nature of
Beethoven, his explicit and unusual trials. These, wholly apart from
his music, will for ever make the study and recollection of him as a
man of profound interest. Haydn can urge but a few young years of
hardship for the human sympathy of generations to come. Mozart’s
disappointments, so sickening to the heart that puts itself in tune with
him, have after all but the ring of hard luck and merit disregarded, to
which the weary world lends only a passing ear. But Beethoven’s
passionate nature, his self-inflicted labor of self-discipline, his
desperate unhappiness and the tragic curse of his deafness, are the
stuff out of which heroes are made.

So his music, reflecting the man, is heroic in calibre. Even its humor
is titanic. It will impress by its hugeness and its force many an ear
deaf to more engaging and more subtle language. Its poignancy is
unmistakable, nearly infallible in its appeal; so that Beethoven is a
name with which to lay even the clod under a spell.

But another reason why Mozart and Haydn lie hidden or but partly
perceived in the shade of Beethoven, is more recondite, is, in fact,
paradoxical. This is no other than the extreme difficulty of their
music. Clara Schumann, writing in her diary of the music of Richard
Wagner, which she rejected in spite of the world’s acclaim,
conceived that either she or the world at large had gone mad. To one
who writes of the difficulties of Haydn’s and Mozart’s sonatas a
similar idea is likely to occur. At the present day they are put into the
hands of babes and sucklings, in whose touch, however, there is no
wisdom. Yet if ever music needed a wise hand, it is these simple
pieces; and a lack of wisdom has made them trivial to the world.

The art of the pianist should be, as Emanuel Bach declared, that of
drawing from his instrument sounds of moving beauty, beautiful in
quality, in line and in shading. His tools are his ten fingers which he
must train to flexibility, strength and security. It is right that as soon
as he can play a scale or shake a trill, he should put his skill to test
upon a piece of music. So the teacher lays Haydn and Mozart under
the clumsy little fingers of boy and girl. ‘Stumble along there on your
way to great Beethoven, whom you must approach with firm and
tested stride.’ That is the burden of the pædagogic lay. It echoes in
the mind of riper age, Haydn and Mozart have been put aside, like
the perambulator, the bib and the high table chair; or, like toys, are
brought out rarely, to be smiled upon.

If they are toys, then maturity should bring a sense of their exquisite
beauty and meaning, and may well shudder at the destruction youth
made imminent upon them. This it all too rarely does, because only
ten fingers in ten thousand can reveal the loveliness of these
sonatas, and because, also, ears are rare that now delight in such a
revelation. You must give to fingers the skill to spin sound from the
keyboard that is like the song of birds, or, if more vocal, is more like
the voice of fairies than the voice of man. It is easier to make
thunder; and even mock thunder intimidates. So your player will
pound Beethoven, and lightning will flash about his head as the
sarcastic Heine fancied it about Liszt’s. Some will scent sacrilege
and cover their ears from the noise. But let the soulless man play
Mozart and his hearers will cover their mouths, as all well-bred
people are trained to do when boredom seeks an outlet.

Technically Haydn and Mozart may be held to have condemned their

music to the sort of galley-service it now performs. Both wrote
perhaps the majority of their sonatas for the use of their pupils. Bach
wrote the ‘Well-tempered Clavichord’ with what seems to be the
same purpose; but Bach’s aim was constantly to educate and to
expand the power of the students under his care; whereas both
Haydn and Mozart may be often suspected of wishing rather to
simplify their music than to tax and strengthen the abilities of their
high-born amateurs. There is something comical in the fact that even
with this most gracious of intentions both were occasionally accused
of writing music that was troublesome, i.e., too difficult. Haydn may
have been grieved to be found thus disagreeable. Mozart’s letters
sometimes show a delicate malice in enjoyment of it. But one can
hear Beethoven snort and rage under a similar reproach.

Yet the wonder is that sonatas so written should be today full of

freshness and beauty. This they undoubtedly are. Composed
perfunctorily they may have been, but the spirit of music is held fast
in most of them, no less appealing for being oftener in smiles than
tears. And if to evoke this spirit in all her loveliness from a box of
strings chance to be the ideal of some player, let him take care to
bring to the sonatas of Haydn and Mozart the most precious
resources of his art and he will not call in vain.

I
The prevalent mood in Haydn’s music is one of frank cheerfulness.
His native happy disposition, his kindliness and his ever-ready, good-
natured humor, won him friends on every hand. These qualities in his
music recommended it to the public. For the public wanted light-
hearted music. Italian melody had won the world. Haydn’s happy,
almost jovial melodies and his lively, obvious rhythms spread over
the world almost as soon as he began to write.

From the start, however, he treated his art seriously. He was never a
careless writer, though he had the benefit of little regular instruction.
Clavier sonatas he had composed for his pupils were so much
copied and circulated in manuscript that a piratical publisher finally
decided money could be made from them. He had written quartets
for strings, which were received with favor at soirées given by
Porpora and men of rank. He won the approval of men like
Wagenseil, Gluck, and Dittersdorf. All his work, though simple, is
beautifully and clearly done.

He was not, like Mozart and Beethoven, a great player on the

harpsichord or piano. In this respect, and, indeed, in many others, he
is a little like Schubert. Both men wrote extremely well for the
keyboard. The music of both has an unusual stamp of spontaneous
originality. In Haydn’s music as in Schubert’s the quality of folk-
melodies and folk-rhythms is very distinct. In spite of most obvious
differences in temperament and in circumstances, they speak of the
same race unconsciously influenced by Slavic elements.

The collection of thirty-four sonatas for pianoforte published by

Peters includes, with perhaps one exception, the best of his work for
that instrument alone. On looking over them one cannot but be
struck by the general similarity of any one to the others. Some are
more frankly gay, more boyish, than others; some tempered by
seriousness. It may be added, however, that those of a later period
do not seem generally more profound than those of an earlier one.
The later ones are more elaborate, sometimes musically more
complicated, but a single mood is on the whole common to them all.

The same is in part true of Mozart’s sonatas. Except as these show

distinct traces of the various influences under which he came from
time to time, they do not differ strikingly from each other. There is
over both Haydn’s and Mozart’s keyboard music a normal cast of
thought, as there is over the music of Couperin. In this they suffer by
comparison with Beethoven, as Couperin suffers by comparison with
Bach. One would have no difficulty in choosing ten Beethoven
sonatas, each one of which is entirely distinct from the others, not by
reason of form or style or content, but by reason of a very special
emotional significance. One could not choose ten Haydn sonatas of
such varied character. One does not, in other words, sit down to the
piano with a volume of Haydn sonatas, expecting to confront a
wholly new problem in each one, to meet a wholly new range of
thought and feeling, passing from one to the other. One looks for the
same sort of thing in each one, and with few exceptions one finds it.

To what is this due? To the nature of the man or to the circumstances

under which most of the sonatas were written? Or is it due to public
taste of the day and the consequent attitude of the man towards the
function of music? To answer these questions would lead us far
afield. But it is doubtless in large measure owing to this fact that
Haydn, and Mozart too, have been thought to concern themselves
primarily with form in music. And Beethoven has again and again
been described as the man who overthrew the supremacy of the
formal element in music, to which his predecessors are imagined to
have sworn prime allegiance.

It is a great injustice so to stigmatize Haydn and Mozart. The beauty

of their music is far more one of spirit than one of form. In his own
day Haydn was thought to be an innovator, not in the matter of form,
but in the spirit with which he filled forms already familiar. This may
be said to be the spirit of humor. Weitzmann[30] cites an interesting
passage in the Musikalisches Handbuch for the year 1782 which
speaks of Haydn as ‘A musical joke-maker, but like Yorick, not for
pathos but for high comic; and this in music most exasperating
(verzweifelt sehr). Even his adagios, where the man should properly
weep, have the stamp of high comedy.’ And a most joyous humor
fills the Haydn sonatas full to overflowing. That is the secret of the
charm they will exert on any one who takes the time to study them
today, a charm which has little to do with formal perfection.

Let us look into a few of the sonatas. Most of them were written
between 1760 and 1790. The few written earlier than 1760 are so
obviously teaching pieces that, though they won him fame, we need
not trouble to study them. Take, however, a sonata from the set
published in 1774, known as opus 13, in C major (Peters No. 15).
The whole first movement is built upon two rhythmical phrases which
by their lilt and flow cannot fail to delight the dullest ear. There is the
dotted sixteenth figure of the first theme, a theme frankly melodious
for all its rhythmical vivacity; and later the same opening notes, with
playful triplets added. Nothing profound or serious about it, but yet a
wealth of vitality; and nearly all accomplished with but two voices.

The adagio seems not at all conspicuous, yet compare it with an

adagio of Clementi to see how much genuine life it has. Then the
rapid little last movement, with its rocking, tilting figures, all as
sparkling as sunlight. Here again, only two voices in most of the
movement.

Another sonata in the same set in F major (Pet. 20) is a little more
developed. The quick falling arpeggio figures following the first
theme are a favorite, comical device of Haydn’s. The second theme,
if so it may be called, is only a series of scampering notes, with a
saucy octave skip at the end; the whole full of smiles and laughter.
The fine harp-like runs in the development section are reminiscent of
Emanuel Bach. Haydn is noticeably fond of sudden and abrupt
changes of harmony. There is one in the first section of this
movement. But often he is surprisingly chromatic, more subtle in
harmony than the naïve character of his music would lead one to
expect him.

In the opus 14, published in 1776 by Artaria, there are some joyous
sonatas. The first theme of one in G major (Pet. 11) suggests
Schubert by its sweetness. There is a minuet instead of a slow
movement, and the final presto is a theme with lively variations. The
Alberti bass on which the fourth variation floats is irresistibly naïve.
Another sonata in E-flat seems richer. It is hardly less naïve and less
humorous than the others in the set, but there is a warmer coloring.
The overlapping imitations in the fourth, fifth, and sixth measures are
strangely poignant, especially as they appear later in the
restatement. There is a minuet instead of a slow movement, of which
the trio is especially beautiful. The way in which the first phrase
seems to be prolonged into five measures, once more suggests
Schubert.

It is, of course, nearly impossible to characterize the sonatas in

words, or to distinguish any striking feature in one which may not be
found in another. There are two sonatas in E-flat (Pet. 1 and 3)
among the last he wrote. These appear at first sight more profound
than the earlier ones, but it is hard in studying them to find them so.
They are more fully scored, more fully developed, perhaps more
moderately gay. But it is still the Haydn which spoke in the earlier
ones. Premonitions of Schubert are again evident in the second of
these sonatas (Pet. 3), in the second section of the slow movement,
and in the brief passage in E-flat minor in the minuet. There are very
fine moments in the first movement, too. It will be observed that the
second theme is very like the first. This is frequently the case with
Haydn, a feature which points to his dependence on Emanuel Bach.
Even in his symphonies it shows itself, conspicuously in the great
symphony in D major, No. 7, in Breitkopf and Härtel’s edition. In the
sonata in question, however, there is no lack of secondary material
of varied and decided character; for example, the transitional section
between the first and second themes; the broad closing theme of the
first section, with its alternate deep phrases and high answers; and
the carefully wrought measures which open the development
section.

The effect of the measures which bring this section almost to a close
and then lead on into the recapitulation is almost magical. We
approach the romantic. The strange power of silence in music is
nowhere better employed, a power which the old convention of
constant movement had kept concealed, at least in instrumental
music. Mention has been made of the pauses in Emanuel Bach’s
music and in Clementi’s; but here in Haydn’s sonata is a passage of
more than twenty measures in which silence seems to reign.
Something calls on high and there is silence. Then from some deep
down range there is a faint answer. And so the high calls across
silence to the deep, again and again, as if one without the other
might not prevail against some spirit of silence.

Such a passage as this, and many another in Haydn’s music,

suggest Beethoven. One is quick to exclaim, ‘Ah! this foreshadows
the great man to come!’ Almost as if the music had no merit but by
comparison. Yet Haydn’s music should be taken at its own value.
Only in that way may the charm of it, and the genuine beauty as well,
be fully appreciated. Surely it has a life and a spirit all its own,
without which music would be poorer.

Only one clavier work of special significance, apart from the sonatas,
remains to be mentioned. This is a very beautiful series of variations
on a theme in F minor. They present, of course, the familiar features
of Haydn’s style, clear and ‘economic’ part-writing, perfect balance
and lucidity in form, abrupt, unprepared chords, furnishing what
Hadow has aptly called ‘points of color’; and still, smooth, chromatic
progressions which are somehow naïve. The theme itself is in two
sections, with a ‘trio’ section in F major, full of ascending and
descending arpeggio figures which seem in Haydn’s music like the
warble of a bird’s song, odd little darts and flurries of sound. There is
over the whole a changing light of plaintive and gay which is rather
different from the perpetual sunshine of the sonatas.
It is needless to say that the theme undergoes no such
metamorphosis in the course of the variations as Bach’s theme in his
Goldberg Variations. The accompaniment may be said to remain
practically the same throughout the set. The first variation leads the
melody through half-steps, in syncopation, and numerous trills are
brought in to beautify the almost too ingenuous major section. In the
second variation the melody is dissolved, so to speak, into a clear
stream of rapid counterpoint which curves and frets above and below
the familiar accompaniment. The final restatement of the theme
leads by abrupt soft modulations into a long coda in which traces of
the theme still linger. The whole set makes up a masterpiece in
pianoforte literature, and may be ranked as one of the most beautiful
pieces of music in the variation form.

II
Mozart’s keyboard music is astonishingly different from Haydn’s.
Because both men have fallen into the obscurity of the same
shadow, one is likely to speak of them as if both were but a part of
one whole. The differences between them are not merely matters of
detail. In fact they may resemble each other more in detail than in
general qualities. The spirit of Mozart’s music is wholly different from
the spirit of Haydn’s. If with Haydn we may associate a frank good
nature and something of the peasant’s sturdiness, in Mozart’s music
we have to do with something far more subtle, far more graceful, and
almost wholly elusive. It has been said of Mozart’s music that its
inherent vitality is all-sufficient to a listener. In other words, there is
neither any need nor any desire to interpret it, either in terms of
another art or as an expression or a symbol of human emotion. It is
perhaps unique in being sheer sound and nothing else. It is the
thinnest gossamer spun between our ears and stillness. It is of all
music the most ethereal, the most spiritual, one might almost say the
least audible.
His life was utterly different from Haydn’s. To begin with, he was
twenty-four years younger. He was most carefully and rigorously
trained in his art, from infancy, by his father and by the greatest
musicians in the world, whom he met on his triumphant tours over
Europe. As a child he was all but adored in Vienna, in all the great
cities of Italy, in London, in Paris, and in Brussels. As a youth fortune
began to forsake him. He was not so much neglected as
unappreciated. He was underpaid, harassed by debt. He was without
an established position, chiefly apparently because in the nature of
things he could not be but young. He died at last in Vienna, in more
or less miserable circumstances, at the age of thirty-five. Thus a life
could end that in early years had been the marvellous delight of
nearly a whole world.

He was always a virtuoso as well as a composer. He played the

violin excellently; he played the piano as no man in his time could
play it and as perhaps no man has played it since. His playing was
not so much distinguished by brilliance as by beauty. The quality of
his tone was of that kind which once heard can never be forgotten. It
haunted the minds of men long after he was dead. Even the memory
of it brought tears.

His compositions give only a slight idea of what the range of his
playing was. He seems to have moved people most at times when
he improvised. This he would often do in public, according to the
custom of the day; but in private, too, he would often go to his piano
and pour his soul out hour after hour through the night in improvised
music of strange and unusual power. Something of the quality of
these outpourings seems to have been preserved in the fantasia in C
minor. The sonatas and rondos have little of it. Neither have the
concertos. Franz Niemetschek, one of his most devoted friends and
author of the first of his biographies, said, as an old man, that if he
dared ask the Almighty for one more earthly joy, it would be that he
might once again before he died hear Mozart improvise. The
improvisations of Beethoven, marvellous as they were, never took
just the place of Mozart’s in the minds of those who had been
privileged to hear the younger man as well.
Mozart did not compose his piano music at the piano, as Schumann
and Chopin did. The improvisations were not remembered later and
put down in form upon paper. They seem to have been something
apart from his composing. He wrote music away from the piano, at
his desk, as most people write letters—in the words of his wife. Most
of the sonatas, too, were written for the benefit of pupils. Few of
them make actually trying demands upon technical brilliance. Their
great difficulty is more than technical, or than what is commonly
regarded as technical—strength, velocity, and endurance. Yet no
music more instantly lays bare any lack of evenness or any stiffness
in the fingers. Mozart cared little for a brilliant style. His opinion of
Clementi has already been mentioned. He preferred rather a
moderate than an extremely rapid tempo, condemned severely any
inaccuracy or carelessness, likewise any lack of clearness in rhythm.
But, above all, he laid emphasis on a beautiful and singing quality of
tone.

His avoidance rather than cultivation of brilliancy alone makes his

music often suggest the harpsichord. There is an absence of the
technical devices then new, which have since become thoroughly
associated with the pianoforte style. Yet from 1777 Mozart devoted
himself to the pianoforte. An instrument made especially for him,
which he invariably used in his many concerts in Vienna, has been
preserved. The keyboard has a range of five octaves, from the F
below the bass staff to the F above the treble staff. The action is very
light, the tone rather sharp and strong. It can be damped, or
softened, by means of a stop which pulls a strip of felt into position
between the strings and the hammers.

Concerning the pianoforte sonatas it may be said again that few

depart from a normal, prevailing mood. Some are exceptional.
Knowing his great gift of improvising and how rich and varied his
improvisations were, it is perhaps a temptation to read into them
more definite emotions than are really implied. Yet it is easy to pick
from the later sonatas at least three which not only differ
considerably from the earlier sonatas, but differ likewise from each
other. Nevertheless, two or three traits are common to them all. They
mark Mozart’s sonatas distinctly from Haydn’s and, indeed, from all
other sonatas.

First, there is rare melodiousness about them all. The quality of the
melodies is hard to analyze. There is little savor of the folk-song, as
there is in many of Haydn’s melodies. They are not so clearly cut,
not, in a way, of such solid stuff. Neither, on the other hand, have
they a peculiar germinating vigor which we associate with
Beethoven. They seem to spin themselves as the music moves
along. The movements seem to flow rather than grow. Mozart was
none the less a great contrapuntist, one of the greatest among
composers. But his music seems strangely to pass through
counterpoint, not to be built up of it. It has therefore a quality of
litheness or supple flexibility which distinguishes it from that of other
composers and gives it a preëminent grace. In this regard it is akin
only to the music of Couperin and Chopin.

In the second place, the harmonic coloring is subtle and suggestive.

His music seems to play about harmonies rather than with them. The
simplest chords and modulations have a sort of shimmer. An
instance in orchestral music comes to mind—the second themes in
both the first and last movements of the inspired symphony in G
minor, particularly the treatment of the second theme in the
restatement section of the last movement. The effect is due largely
to the chromatic half-steps through which his melodies glide,
noticeably into cadences, and to the same chromatic hovering about
tonic, dominant and subdominant chords. Oftener than not the fine
thread of his melody only grazes the notes proper to its harmony,
touching just above or below them in swift, light dissonances.
Frequently the harmonic foundation is of the simplest kind.
Modulations to remote keys or vague drifting of the whole harmonic
fabric, such as one finds, for instance, in the first pages of the
Fantasia in C minor, are rare. Usually the harmonic foundation is
astonishingly simple. It is the wholly charming unwillingness of the
melodies to be flatly chained to it that gives the whole such an
elusive color.
There is a wealth of passing notes, of anticipations and suspensions,
of every device which may aid melody to belie its unavoidable
relations to harmony. These take from most of his pianoforte music
all trace of commonplaceness. Most of it has a graceful distinction
which we may call style. Take even the opening theme of the great
sonata in A minor. The nature of the theme is bold and declamatory;
yet the very first note avoids an unequivocal allegiance to the
harmony by a D-sharp. Or observe in the last movement of the
sonata in C minor (K. 457) how the short phrases of the melody not
only anticipate the harmony in beginning, but delay acknowledging it
again and again.

In the third place, the scoring of Mozart’s sonatas is usually lighter

than that of Haydn’s. We have to do with a finer set of fingers, for
one thing, which are unexcelled in lightness and sweetness of touch,
fingers which prefer to suggest oftener than to declaim. The
treatment of inner voices is more airy. One thinks again of Couperin
and even more of Chopin. There is a better understanding of
pianoforte effects, not effects of brilliance but of delicate sonority
combined with grace. The last movement of the sonata in A minor
just mentioned, is a masterpiece of style, and yet for the most part is
hardly more than a whisper of sound. The passage work in the last
movement of a beautiful sonata in F major (K. 332), the chord figures
of the Piu allegro section of the Fantasia, even the F-sharp minor
section of the familiar Alla Turca are the work of a man with an
unusually fine sense of what fitted the pianoforte. Mozart also
expected more of the left hand than Haydn expected. In all his
pianoforte music there is more delicacy than there is in Haydn’s,
more sophistication, too, if you will. It is more difficult to play.

Of the many sonatas, rondos and fantasias only a few may be

discussed in detail. Three sonatas written before Mozart settled in
Vienna, in 1781, are very fine. These are in A minor (K. 310), in A
major (K. 331) and in F major (K. 332). That in A minor was written in
1778. The first movement is more stentorian than Mozart’s music
usually is. It is dominated by a strong rhythmical motive throughout,
used with fiery effect in the development section over a series of
rumbling pedal points. There is something assertive and martial
about it, like the ring of trumpets over a great confusion. The second
theme seems to be but an expression of energy in more civilian
strain. It is perilously near virtuoso stuff; but the movement as a
whole is splendid by reason of its force. It is Mozart in a very unusual
mood, however.

The second movement is a picture in music, according to Mozart

himself, of a charming little girl, who has ‘a staid manner and a great
deal of sense for her age.’ Yet something of the boldness of the first
movement still lingers. The mood is beautifully lyrical and poetic, the
style, however, very free and broad. It lacks the intimate tenderness
of most of Mozart’s slow movements. The last movement is magical.
The fine, delicate scoring, the short phrases, as it were breathless,
the beautiful shifting of harmonies, the constantly restless unvaried
movement, weave a texture of music that must make us ever wonder
at the nature of the mysterious, elusive spirit that whispers all but
unheard behind so much of Mozart’s music.

The sonata in F major and that in A major were written the following
year, and are of strikingly different character, both speaking of the
Mozart whose playing was long remembered for its quality of heart-
melting tenderness. Unlike the first movement of the A minor sonata,
the first movement of the F major is full of a variety of themes and
motives. It is rather lyrical in character. The first theme has a song-
like nature; and a beautiful measure or two of folk-song melody
makes itself heard in the transition to the second theme, which is
again lyrical. The development section opens with still another
melody. There is an oft-repeated shifting from high register to low.
The whole is wrapped in a veil of poetry. The slow middle movement
is unexcelled among all slow movements for purity of style, for
perfection of form, for refinement, but also tenderness of sentiment;
and the last movement flows like a brook through Rondo Field. One
cannot choose one movement from the others as being more
beautiful either in spirit or workmanship; and the three together
compose one of the flawless sonatas of pianoforte literature.
The more familiar sonata in A major is more irregular. It has, by the
way, no movement in the triplex form. The first is an air and
variations. It has long been a favorite with amateur and connoisseur
alike. The naïve beauty of the air is irresistible. The variations throw
many traits of Mozart’s style into prominence, particularly in the first
and fifth, his love of entwining his harmonies, so to speak, with
shadows and passing notes. The scoring of the fourth is wonderfully
beautiful. The sixth is perhaps unworthy to follow the fifth. After the
almost inevitable monotony of the variation form, it is perhaps to be
regretted that the second movement, a minuet, continues the key of
the first. The movement itself is of great charm. The trio is happily in
D major. One would be glad to have it in any key, so exquisite and
perfect is its beauty. The last movement, a rondo alla Turca, takes up
the key of A again. That it is in minor, not major, hardly suffices to
break the monotony of tonality which may threaten the interest of the
sonata as a whole. The rondo is engagingly jocund, but more
ordinary than Mozart is elsewhere likely to allow himself to be.

Two later sonatas have a more serious allure than these earlier
ones. That in C minor (K. 457), composed in 1784, is commonly
considered his greatest sonata. Why such a distinction should be
insisted upon, it is difficult to see. The C minor sonata is more
weighty than the others, but is it for that reason greater? Must music
to be great, hint of the tragic struggles of the soul? Such is the merit
often ascribed to this sonata, as if there were no true greatness in a
smile. Without setting up a standard of the great and the trivial in
music, we may grant that the work has a compelling force. Let us not
liken it to Beethoven. It still has the charm of which only Mozart was
the master, that charm which remains one of the intangible,
inexplicable things in music.

A sonata in F major (K. 533) was composed in 1788. The whole

work is characterized by a possibly too prominent contrapuntal
ingenuity. There is besides a boldness in harmonies, especially in
the slow movement, which makes one wonder into what strange
lands Mozart strayed when he sat improvising at the keyboard.
The sonatas as a whole rest, as we have said, upon a harmonic
foundation which is relatively simple. The great Fantasia in C minor
differs from them in this regard more than in any other. If, as Otto
Jahn suggested in his ‘Life of Mozart,’ this fantasia may offer us
some suggestion of what Mozart’s improvisations were like, we may
be sure that such outpourings wandered into harmonies rich and
strange.

The fantasia was composed in 1785, the year after the C minor
sonata, to which it was at one time thought to have been intended as
an introductory movement. An earlier fantasia in D minor is
fragmentary. It ends abruptly and leaves an impression of
incompleteness on the mind of the listener. The C minor fantasia is
without definite form, but the return of the opening motive at the end
gives it a logical balance. It divides itself into five or six sections. The
tempo is not very fast in any one of them, but there is an uneasy
current of unrest running under the whole.

It would be foolish to attempt an analysis of what may be its

emotional content. It calls for no such analysis, but stands as
another instance of the strange power Mozart’s music has to satisfy
of itself alone. It must remain, like his other work, mysterious and of
secret origin. Only one section is given a key-signature. The others
are without harmonic limitation. Perhaps the opening section, and
the brief part of it repeated at the end, are the most impressive. The
motive out of which they are built is of unfathomable significance;
their harmonies rise and fall as slowly and mysteriously as the tide.
Of the quality of other more melodious sections, of the occasional
charm and grace that here and there rise, as it were, on the wings of
light; of the passionate harmonies that die away into silence before
the slow opening motive returns inexorably, nothing can be said.
There comes over it in memory the light that never was on land or
sea. It is a poet’s dream.

III
We have now to consider the pianoforte concertos which as a whole
may be taken to be the finest of his works for the instrument. They
were written primarily for his own use, seventeen of them in Vienna
between 1783 and 1786, some earlier, however, and a few later.
They are concertos in the modern sense, not like the concertos of
Sebastian Bach. In the latter we find the clavier treated in much the
same style as the orchestra or the tutti, as it was, and still is,
generally called. In the Mozart concertos, on the other hand, the solo
instrument is given a rôle which will show off to the best its peculiar
qualities. The Vivaldi form of concerto, such as Bach used, was a
modified rondo; that is to say, there was one chief subject, usually
announced at the beginning by the tutti. This subject properly
belonged to the tutti, and the solo instrument was given various
episodes of contrasting material, between which the orchestra
usually was introduced with ritornelles based upon the chief subject.
The whole was a sort of dialogue between soloist and orchestra.

The form of the concerto which Mozart used was clearly as follows:
an expanded triplex form for the first movement, a slow movement in
song form, and a rondo of the French type for the finale. Moreover,
he used the solo instrument not only alone, but with the orchestra; in
such cases writing a brilliant sort of fioritura for it, which added a
special and distinct color to the ensemble. Such a form of concerto
was apparently first employed by Christian Bach in London. From
him Mozart learned the use of it. He was not, therefore, as has often
been stated, the true ‘father’ of the modern concerto. Nevertheless it
was he who first used the form with enduring success, and it may be
considered as his special contribution to the standard musical forms.

A brief outline of the first movement of one of his concertos will

illustrate the manner in which the triplex form was used in all of
them, and in which, with few modifications, it has continued to be
used by most composers. Let us take the wonderfully delightful
concerto in A major (K. 488). The movement opens with a long
section for the orchestra. The first theme is announced at once.
Later comes the lovely second theme, in the tonic key, be it noted.
There is then a short coda, and the orchestra comes to a full tonic
cadence and allows the piano to take up the music. The function of
this orchestral introduction is to introduce the two themes out of
which the movement now proceeds to build itself, conforming pretty
closely to the triplex model.

The piano has the first theme practically alone, the orchestra merely
suggesting an inner voice in the harmony from time to time. In the
transitional passage to the dominant key which follows, the piano
serves chiefly to spin a few figures over the chords carried by the
orchestra. Then the piano has the second theme, now in the
dominant, alone; after which it is repeated by the orchestra, the
piano adding a touch of ornamental color here and there. Pianoforte
and orchestra now play together, the piano taking the rôle of soloist
in a series of scales and figures. A full cadence in E major ends the
first section.

The development section is not long. It will be noticed that the pianist
is really soloist through it all, the delicate figure work which he has to
perform being always evident above the harmonies or themes of the
orchestra.

The long opening section for orchestra at the beginning of the

concerto is cut down to a few measures in the restatement. The
transitional passage between first and second themes is very much
shortened likewise. Finally, after the music has progressed duly
according to the conventions governing the restatement section in
the triplex form, the orchestra makes a pause. Here the pianist is
supposed to play what is known as a cadenza—a long passage
usually testing both him and his instrument to the limit of their
abilities. These cadenzas were commonly improvised, and in them
Mozart must have displayed the greatness of his power both as a
musician and as a player. The cadenza came to an end with a long
trill, after which the orchestra, usually without the piano, added the
completing coda.

The second and third movements were usually in some simpler form.
The second was most frequently an aria, the third a rondo. The
whole was primarily a piece for the virtuoso, while the orchestra,
save when announcing themes or playing ritornelles, served mainly
as an accompaniment to the brilliant soloist. It might well, be it
understood, carry on the thematic development of the music, thus
leaving the pianist free to weave every sort of arabesque; but from
now on the concerto was a form of music which was deliberately
planned to show off the special qualities of a solo instrument.

It was almost inevitable that in most concertos the genuinely musical

element should be regarded as of less and less importance. The
public expected, and indeed still expects, to hear or even to see a
virtuoso display the uttermost limits of his skill in such pieces. The
improvised cadenzas were in the hands of most players a nuisance
which marred the work as a whole beyond repair. But the Mozart
concertos, written as they were for occasions of his public
appearance, have a true musical value. We know enough of his
improvising to be sure that his cadenzas added and did not subtract
from this.

Their chief beauty is here, as in his other music, the melodious

freshness of his themes, the delightful subtlety of his harmony. The
constant stream of arabesque which the piano adds to this
intrinsically beautiful foundation is in the main simple. It is surprising
how little Mozart added to the virtuoso style of pianoforte literature,
even how little he made use of what, through Clementi and Dussek,
was already common property. There are practically no octave
passages, and no passages in double notes. He uses only scales,
arpeggios and trills.

But his art of combining these with the orchestra has never been
excelled. In this regard his concertos stand far above those of the
virtuosi like Hummel, Dussek, and John Field. Their tone-color is not
only that which the essentially colorless pianoforte can afford; it is a
beautiful interweaving of many colors. His treatment of the orchestra
is always distinguished, never haphazard or indifferent. Delicate as
the coloring may be to ears now accustomed to heavier and more
sensuous blendings, it is not watery and faded. It is still exquisitely
clear and suggestive. As the first of composers to make such