Fouling, mainly caused by insoluble calcium salts, deteriorates the performance of process equipments, such as membranes and heat exchangers, during the desalination process. In this study, a new strategy of seawater decalcification pretreatment using carbon dioxide as precipitator was proposed. Firstly, the solubility data of carbon dioxide in seawater was extended to higher temperatures and salinities, and the pH effects on the dissolution performance of carbon dioxide were studied, since the dissolution rate of CO2 in the seawater was assumed to be the decisive rate of the calcite precipitation rate. A new modified Bunsen function was proposed to fit the solubility data of CO2 in seawater when salinity was higher than 70 parts per thousand. Then the controllable decalcification of seawater was realized by ventilation with carbon dioxide using a recycling tower. Furthermore, the decalcification rates with time were studied under various conditions, such as flow ratio of carbon dioxide in gas (F), liquid-gas ratio (R) and different pH values. It was found that about 86.9% calcium ions were removed in 70 min under the best experimental conditions: F was 10.6%, Q(air) = 134.2 m(3)/h and Q(CO2) = 16.0 m(3)/h; R was 21.3; and pH was 7.9. (C), 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.