O. Kedem et G. Zalmon, COMPACT ACCELERATED PRECIPITATION SOFTENING (CAPS) AS A PRETREATMENT FOR MEMBRANE DESALINATION .1. SOFTENING BY NAOH, Desalination, 113(1), 1997, pp. 65-71
This study examines the application of compact accelerated precipitati
on softening (CAPS)-a previously developed process-as a pretreatment f
or membrane desalination. In this CAPS process, rapid precipitation of
calcium carbonate is achieved by cake filtration. The importance of t
his pretreatment step lies in the fact that softening (by NaOH in this
case) facilitates an increase of the recovery ratio in membrane desal
ination by decreasing the potential for scaling. In addition, CAPS ser
ves as an effective filtration step, reducing both turbidity and the s
ilt density index and hence the potential for membrane fouling.