Before NaturSoft System	After just 8 weeks using the NaturSoft System

Important Links NaturSoft Visible Results & What to Expect NaturSoft Third Party Testing and Certification Applications for the Pelican NaturSoft Pelican Natursoft FAQs

How does the Pelican NaturSoft System soften my water?
The NaturSoft media acts as a catalyst reducing the degree of super saturation required to form solid calcium carbonate crystals. By forming these submicron crystals, NaturSoft removes the excess calcium from solution that would otherwise be the cause for an elevated scale potential. These newly formed calcium carbonate crystals then are introduced to the water as suspended particles where they perform the same role as the media itself, i.e. acting as seed crystals further buffering the effects of any changes in the scale potential of the water downstream by adsorbing excess mineral into their structure and themselves spawning the creation of additional micro crystals.

NaturSoft maintains the holistic nature of the water; it neither adds, nor removes anything from the water. Yet, it provides most of the pertinent benefits that would ordinarily cause users to consider purchasing conventional salt based ion exchange water softeners. NaturSoft based systems do not require water intensive backwashing, electrical energy, salt or any other chemicals to create these benefits. Therefore, NaturSoft is one of the "greenest" technologies available today.

Optical microscope view of NaturSoft resin showing crystal formation at a 1000X magnification

What is hardness and how does the Natursoft system address it?
In order to understand the operating principle behind NaturSoft's catalytic scale reduction technology (Physical Water Treatment) in greater detail it is important to examine the relationship between minerals dissolved in an aqueous solution and the occurrence of crystalline solids.

The operating principle of NaturSoft

1. In its practical application, the NaturSoft is operated in a fluidized bed. Due to the media beads "bumping into each other" and the shearing forces of the passing water by the media granules, the micro crystals are released into the water stream. The crystals being devoid of a charge (as the ionic charges of its building blocks calcium and carbonate neutralize each other) now are suspended in the water traveling in the flow of the water unable to attach themselves to the plumbing surfaces.
2. Without a doubt the most important aspect of this technology is not what occurs in the NaturSoft tank alone, but rather the fact that the micro crystals that are released into the water stream act as seed crystals fulfilling the exact same function in the water stream as the NaturSoft media does within the treatment vessel. As the scale potential of the water in the plumbing system increases "usually through pressure differentials or increases in the water temperature (heating)" the seed crystals that are present throughout the body of water readily integrate precipitating calcium into their own structure (i.e. the crystals grow) and spawn the creation of further seed crystals in their immediate vicinity. As a result, excess minerals are once again removed to form harmless crystals and the scale potential of the water is returned to a neutral or saturated state.

Calcium Carbonate
Calcium carbonate is arguably the most troublesome of the "Hardness Minerals", As a solid, it occurs in two possible forms in a plumbing system:

1. As scale or limestone deposits: a firmly attached crystal structure commonly called scale. It is a rough, hard deposit that occludes piping systems over time, reduces water pressure, tends to harbor microorganisms and interferes with heat transfer in water heaters and the like.
2. As a colloid or sediment: an unattached solid, i.e. a suspended crystal that lacking an electric charge is unable to attach itself to plumbing surfaces or existing scale and that gets carried along with the flowing water.

Why does water contain calcium?
Contrary to popular belief, calcium carbonate is very poorly soluble. indeed virtually non-soluble in water (H2O). It is the carbonic acid occurring in water as the result of carbon dioxide being absorbed from the atmosphere and / or from organic activity in the aquifers that dissolves calcium minerals. This weak acid leaches minerals from the earth's crust creating dissolved hardness.

Calcium and Carbonic acid balance
The minerals being leached from the earth's crust in effect neutralize the acid. The result is water containing dissolved minerals that are in some relationship to the water.s original carbonic acid content. A balanced state or state of equilibrium would be a state of saturation with an amount of calcium equal to what would be required to neutralize the carbonic acid. A super saturated condition would occur when the amount of calcium actually exceeds the carbonic acid present; an under-saturated condition would exist when the opposite is the case.

Why does scale form?
Scale does not form randomly. For example, scale is much more likely to get its start in metal pipes versus plastics, on rough versus smooth surfaces, on conductive versus non-conductive surfaces, in hot water versus cold. Many studies have been conducted on the vulnerability of different plumbing materials to experience scale formation. The plumbing materials ranged from various manmade "plastic" materials, to basic metals like copper & steel and stainless steel, to the exotic like titanium and gold & platinum plated base metals.
These studies found that each plumbing surface material had a different rate at which scale nucleation would occur (i.e. the scale getting started). However, once nucleation had occurred and scale had attached itself to the plumbing surface, the rate at which the scale would actually grow was the same regardless of the type of plumbing material. The causal factor for this observation is scale.s strong preference for aggregating on existing scale rather than any other surfaces.