Dry Ice Cleaning

Dry Ice Cleaning

Dry ice blasting (CO2 blasting) uses specialized equipment that mixes dry ice (solid carbon dioxide, CO2) pellets with compressed air generated from an external air compressor.  The compressed air accelerates the pellets through a blast hose near supersonic speeds.  As the solid carbon dioxide exits the blast nozzle and impacts the surface, the solid CO2 converts to a gas (sublimation) and the rapid gas expansion of CO2 facilitates the removal of the surface contamination.

Since the dry ice converts to a gas upon impact,

there is no secondary waste generated during the cleaning process.  This key feature distinguishes CO2 blasting from traditional media blasting and cleans the substrate with little or no abrasion (solid CO2 is relatively soft).  Thus, dry ice blasting eliminates the need for abrasive media blasting techniques, harsh chemicals, flammable solvents, and labor intensive cleaning procedures.  In addition, this process is nonconductive, nonflammable, and non-toxic.

Benefits

• Dry ice blasting is a completely dry process because dry ice pellets consist of CO2 and vaporize immediately on contact with the surface to be cleaned.
• The system produces no waste products. Only the coating that has been removed remains to be disposed of, and this can usually be swept or vacuumed from the floor.
• Dry ice blasting is completely non-toxic and no hazardous chemicals are used. Costs connected with the disposal of the blasting media, chemicals or solvents are saved.
• Dry ice blasting is non-abrasive. Since surfaces are treated extremely gently, wear and tear resulting from the use of steel brushes and scrapers-or from other blasting media-is avoided.
• Dry ice blasting often allows the company's production equipment to be cleaned while in operation, i.e. the costly periods of production downtime for dismantling and/or cleaning are reduce drastically- as significant economic benefit.
• The combination of extremely high cleaning speeds and a wide range of nozzles means that even normally inaccessible items can be cleaned rapidly. No blasting media re left on chains and drives, etc….
• Reduced downtime periods. Increased production capacity. Improved product quality. On-site cleaning capacity. Improved product quality. On-site cleaning without dismantling.
• Reduced payroll costs of cleaning and maintenance. No need for hazardous chemicals and solvents. Adding up all these factors will clearly indicate that the investment will pay off within a very short time
• By implementing dry ice blasting into your cleaning and maintenance schedules, it is possible to reduce costs, improve safety, and extend equipment and property life.
• Often, equipment is cleaned in place without tool disassembly/reassembly which saves labor and production down time.  Also, waste disposal costs are minimized by eliminating secondary waste (used blast media, chemicals, solvents, used cleaning cloths, etc.).

This process is approved for industry use by the EPA, FDA, and USDA.

Equipment life is prolonged by minimizing/eliminating surface degradation caused by abrasive blast media.

Applications

Electromechanics: Cleans motors and equipment with electric, pneumatic or hydraulic components directly using dry ice blasting.

Electrical power industry

Dry ice is highly recommended for….

• Cleaning dead or live equipment and can be used for cleaning
• Stator –rotor installation s
• Turbines
• Transformer and substation
• Insulator
• Motors AC/DC
• Switchboard and electric cabinets
• Armatures, commutators and earth leak circuit breakers
• Nuclear decontamination
• Heat exchangers
• Robotized and automatic cleaning project (e.g nuclear power plants)

Polyurethane: Easily cleans polyurethane foam from production equipment using dry ice blasting as the quick and gentle cleaning solution

Food Industry: Effectively cleans glue, paper dust and product residue from packaging machines without using water and chemicals.

Plastics: Gently removes plastic coatings and polyurethane.

Printing: Effectively removes wet and dry ink, spray powder, paper dust and glue from glue applicators.

Conveyor Systems, Chains Belts… etc.: Cleans chains and belts … etc. directly using dry ice blasting.

 

Capabilities

From cleaning to stripping applications, we use the best equipment and methods to efficiently remove the contaminant from the surface.  We also specialize in high pressure dry ice blasting.