Dry Ice Blasting- What Is It?

Keeping factory and industrial machinery clean is an important part of making sure it runs properly, efficiently, and doesn’t wear out prematurely. While many cleaning solutions are available, most use highly abrasive materials or harsh chemicals to clean the surfaces. What’s the point of cleaning your machinery if the process damages it? One solution that isn’t abrasive or uses dangerous chemicals is dry ice blasting.

Dry ice blasting uses the solid form of carbon dioxide, commonly known as dry ice, as the medium for cleaning. Small particles of the dry ice are shot through the blasting nozzle at the area to be cleaned. Dry ice is a solid at −109°F, and when these subzero particles hit the dirty area the shock of the cold helps to release the grime from the material. The impact from the dry ice blasted pellets and the air blown from the dry ice blasting nozzle complete the process of cleaning the contaminant from the substrate.

The dry ice turns into carbon dioxide gas immediately on impact, which means it doesn’t leave behind any residue or abrasive particles. No particles means dry ice blasting can be used to clean hard to reach places and clean delicate parts that would be damaged by leftover abrasive particles.

Another benefit of using the abrasive and chemical free cleaning that dry ice blast cleaning provides is that cleaning can be performed while operations are still online. Typical cleaning has to wait until a seasonal shutdown, but dry ice cleaning doesn’t need to wait. In fact, if the substrate is still hot from being used the cleaning will be faster and more efficient due to the larger temperature change that releases the contaminant.

Interested in finding out how you can clean your equipment without the use of damaging abrasives or dangerous chemicals? Contact Hughes Environmental to find out how we can make your machinery shiny and clean.