Information about Dry Ice Cleaning

Dry Ice is the solid form of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). CO2 is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas found naturally in our atmosphere and is a bi product of many things. By re using it for cleaning purposes instead of harmful chemicals companies and individuals are helping the environment

Dry-ice blasting is blast cleaning without the residues of cleaning techniques that use grit, sand, water or glass beads as blast-cleaning agents. Ice Cleaning Environmental Ltd uses machines made by CryoTechnics. This was done after carefully evaluating the market as Service Company with stringent specific requirements.
With these machines dry-ice blasting is based on propelling pellets of dry-ice at a temperature of –78.5 °C onto a surface in order to remove different kinds of contamination.
Inside the dry-ice blasting machine a flow of compressed air transports the pellets along to the blasting gun.

Dry-ice blasting is based on a combination of four principles:

1 Impact
The impact, generated by the speed and mass of the dry ice pellets, kinetic energy is transformed into cleaning power.

2 Explosive sublimation
The transfer of heat from the very cold dry ice pellets to the relatively warm surface to be cleaned causes the solid carbon dioxide to sublime almost instantly to gaseous carbon dioxide. In this process the volume of the carbon dioxide particles increases at least 500 times. This virtual micro-explosion of carbon dioxide blasts the contamination away from the inside. The compressed air flow takes care of the rest.

3 Thermoshock
Because of the sudden local cooling, differences in the rate of shrinkage create tensions in the boundary area between the contamination and the substrate. This causes the contamination to break free from the surface.

4 Glass transition point
Some plastic materials harden under extreme cooling. Once the temperature drops below the glass transition point, the material becomes brittle. During numerous production processes, residues become attached to rollers or moulds. Think for instance of oils, fats, waxes, resins, glues, inks, plastics or rubber, dyes, bitumen, paint, glue, etc., etc. Dry-ice blasting removes this kind of contamination effortlessly.

Faster, and therefore cheaper
Machines, or their parts, no longer need to be disassembled for cleaning. In-line cleaning is often possible. This cuts lost production time to a minimum. Furthermore, because of the extremely low temperatures of the blast-cleaning agent, cleaning with dry ice is in some cases more efficient than other techniques. Therefore it will help you save even more time.

Non-abrasive
The dry ice pellets are no harder than pieces of chalk and change into gas the moment they hit the surface, which means there is no damage to the substrate. The blasting pressure of our dry ice blasting machines can be adjusted between 2 and 16 bar. This means that you will be able to regulate the right pressure for the right job.

Environmentally-friendly
The dry ice pellets can be an excellent replacement for corrosive and aggressive solvents

Main features concerning dry ice

• Dry ice blasting is safe to use both outside and inside
• Dry ice blasting cools the substrate but because the action is normally very quick the cooling effect is minimal
• Dry Ice blasting must be carried out with trained personnel using the correct PPE
• The amount of dry ice used depends on the contaminant
• Dry Ice will produce static electricity however when grounded this is not a factor.
• Dry Ice blasting must be carried out with trained personnel using the correct PPE
• Dry ice blasting require clean air at the right pressures
• Dry Ice blasting Machines are portable but must be connected to an air hose.
• The contaminant being removed by dry ice typically drops to the floor within approximately 4 meters and can be swept or vacuumed up for disposal.
• The dry ice blast cleaning   process is dry
• Dry ice blasting can be a very economical alternative when all the factors are taken into account.
• Dry ice blasting can be carried out on hot surfaces i.e. moulds cookers and packaging machines.
• Dry ice blast cleaning is very effective on and near electrical components
• Dry ice blast cleaning can be carried out in food environments
• Dry ice blast cleaning by Ice Cleaning environmental is carried out by personnel who are highly trained and we are a company that welcome challenges.
• Dry Ice blasting is becoming very popular due to specific customer requirements and environmental issues. Ice Cleaning Environmental has been responsible for this and will continue to ensure that dry Ice blasting developments continue to be innovative.