Dry Ice Blasting
Compared to other media blasting methods, dry-ice blasting does not create secondary waste or chemical residues as dry ice sublimates, or converts back to a gaseous state, when it hits the surface that is being cleaned.
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While one of the more expensive methods of blasting, it is also the most environmentally friendly.
Dry-ice blasting does not require clean-up of a blasting medium. The waste products, which includes just the dislodged media, can be swept up, vacuumed or washed away depending on the containment.
Dry Ice, or CO 2Blasting, is a cleaning process using solid CO 2pellets rather than a dry media. When blasted, the dry ice pellets sublimate when they hit the surface to be cleaned. That is, they convert directly from a solid blast pellet to a gas, leaving a clean, dry surface, with no residue.
Dry ice blasting can be utilized in the food processing, disaster restoration and manufacturing industries as well as many more areas where cleanliness is required without the mess of dry blasting or without water from washing.
Dry ice blasting drastically reduces or eliminates dust containment and debris disposal issues.
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Dry ice is a great cleaning tool and effectively removes production residues, oils, release agents, biofilms, paints, contaminants and more. For cleaning of machinery, food equipment, electronic equipment, etc. it is great - no mess, no dust, but it is more expensive than traditional medias.
Note that dry ice is very slow at removing coatings, and therefore is not a great paint removal tool. It also won't remove rust.
For blast removal of paint and rust, we offer other options depending on your requirements.
How Dry Ice Blasting Works
The dry ice pellets are blasted at high speed (kinetic energy) towards the dirty surface.
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Upon impact, the pellets hit with force, breaking up the contaminants. Simultaneously, the extreme cold of the pellets causes the surface and the dirt to undergo rapid cooling (micro-thermal shock), making the contaminants brittle and easier to dislodge.
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As the dry ice hits the surface and begins to warm up, it instantly turns into gas (sublimation), creating a lifting effect that blows the broken-up contaminants off the surface.
The combination of these three forces—kinetic energy breaking up the dirt, micro-thermal shock making the dirt brittle, and sublimation lifting it away—ensures that the surface is cleaned thoroughly and efficiently.
There’s no need for additional clean-up of residues because the dry ice simply evaporates into gas, leaving behind only the dislodged contaminants.
When the CO2 is returned to the atmosphere during the blasting process, no new greenhouse gas is produced. Instead, only the original recycled by-product is released.