A wide range of industries including automotive, manufacturing, food processing, electricals, and mold remediation need a cleaning process that can remove biological, chemical, and physical contaminants from equipment and surfaces. This is one area in which carbon dioxide or CO2, in its solid form, outperforms water. Dry ice, as solid CO2 is known, is a non-toxic, environmentally friendly material. Dry ice blasting solutions clean quickly, efficiently and at lower cost than other comparable methods.
What is dry ice cleaning?
Dry ice is simply carbon dioxide in its solid state, which is maintained at the extremely cold temperature of -109 degrees Fahrenheit. When exposed to higher temperatures, it returns to a gaseous form. Dry ice used for cleaning is typically in the form of pellets, nuggets, or shavings, which impact the surface to be cleaned at high speeds. The cleaning process has three stages, which remove all traces of organic, chemical and physical contaminants from the surface.
First, the thermal impact and shock of receiving dry ice at the extremely cold temperatures shakes loose the bond between the contaminant and the surface to be cleaned. Second, the kinetic impact dislodges the contaminants from the surface. And third, the sublimation of the CO2 pellets as they expand their size by 800% to achieve the gaseous state pushes contaminants off the surface. It does all of this without harming the surface or leaving any chemical residue.
What are some of its applications?
Numerous industries like automotive, manufacturing plants, food processing, electricals, pet food, and aircraft and aerospace have a need for an efficient method of cleaning that quickly and efficiently removes all contaminants from equipment surfaces. Dry ice blasting solutions are suitable for such industries, and also for such purposes as historical and fire restoration and mold remediation.
Mold remediation can be a matter of especial concern in facilities that produce medical equipment. When used for cleaning such facilities, dry ice blasting solutions can reduce cleaning time by as much as 75%. This is a non-abrasive method of cleaning, which does not harm the equipment being cleaned. Further, the equipment does not need to be disassembled to be cleaned, greatly reducing down time. Equipment does not need to be moved but can be cleaned in situ, making the whole process more efficient.
What are some advantages of dry ice cleaning?
First, as stated earlier, dry ice blasting solutions are an environmentally friendly way to clean surfaces thoroughly, without the use of toxic chemicals. In fact, the production process for dry ice is based on the capture of atmospheric CO2, which is a greenhouse gas and a leading pollutant responsible for climate change.
Further, dry ice blasting solutions are quicker and less expensive than other cleaning methods. There is no residue to clean up and no secondary waste. All materials used are non-flammable, so hot surfaces can be cleaned as well as cold ones.
Dry ice blasting solutions use carbon dioxide in its solid form to clean equipment and surfaces in a range of industries and settings. This is a non-toxic process that does not use any harsh chemicals and does not leave any chemical residue. It is quicker and costs less than other cleaning methods, which helps to reduce down time for manufacturing equipment.
