Dry Ice Blasting: Benefits Of This Surface Cleaning Method

From aviation and automotive shops to foundries and factories, just about every industrial setting will periodically need to do a heavy-duty clean of their equipment to keep it operating safely and efficiently.

While many alternatives exist for doing the job (solvents, pressure washing, and soda blasting, to name a few), there’s one method that stands above the rest when it comes to cleaning surfaces well and safely: dry ice blasting.

Dry ice blasting is an effective and eco-friendly way to scour the surfaces of industrial equipment without causing damage, removing anything from rust and adhesives to mold and bacteria without harming delicate electronics, wiring, or casings.

How Dry Ice Blasing Works

Dry ice blasting uses extremely cold (-109.3° F) dry ice pellets (the solid form of carbon dioxide) delivered at high speed via compressed air. The pellets are “shot” against a surface using a device that operates a lot like a power washer you’d use to clean the side of your house. When the particles come in contact with an unwanted coating, the contaminants freeze and fracture; eventually, heat transfer, gas expansion, and impact force will remove the unwanted coatings.

Why Choose Ice Blasting Over Other Surface Cleaning Methods?

Dry ice blasting enjoys significant advantages over other cleaning methods like sand and soda blasting, water cleaning, and chemical cleanup. In addition to doing the job without damaging your equipment, dry ice blasting offers the following advantages over alternative methods:

• Better environmental performance – Some or all of the media used in dry ice blasting can be left behind, flowing down public drains into sewer systems, lakes, and streams, or seeping into the soil. The dry ice used in the dry ice cleaning process is made of reclaimed CO2 that is collected and recycled from other industrial processes.  It also allows for the elimination of environmentally harmful cleaning chemicals.
• No electrical conductivity – Dry ice is non-conductive and will not cause corrosion on surfaces being cleaned.  It also allows for electrical equipment to be safely cleaned with the dry ice blasting process.
• Safe operation– Dry ice blasting eliminates worker exposure to hazardous cleaning agents.
• Minimal secondary waste – With dry ice blasting, all you will need to clean is what you are trying to remove. Dry ice sublimates (turns into a gas) on impact with the surface being cleaned, which results in no secondary waste, no residue and no introduction of moisture.
• Highly effective performance – Dry ice blasting simply does a better of job of cleaning equipment, both visually and at the microbe level.
• No surface contamination – Dry ice blasting leaves behind no water or chemical residue – which means no additional cleanup is needed.
• Deep penetration – Dry ice blasting makes it easier to get into hard to reach nooks and crannies.
• Fast action – Dry ice blasting works faster than other cleaning methods, which means less downtime.
• No disassembly is required – With dry ice blasting, your equipment can remain built and in place, which saves time and allows more frequent cleaning.
• Efficient processes – Dry ice blasting is not as labor intensive as cleaning with water, media, or chemicals.

The Bottom Line

Whether you need to clean food processing equipment, electronics, electric motors, or just about any other type of industrial equipment, dry ice will do the job faster, safer, and more completely than just about any other method. Why not give it a try?

Need dry ice pellets in Rochester and Buffalo, NY? Irish Carbonic has them. Contact us today to learn more or place an order!