Dry Ice Cleaning


What is Dry Ice?
Carbon Dioxide is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas that is found naturally in our atmosphere.
Oxygen and nitrogen make up over 99% of our atmosphere, while CO2 occupies about 0.03% of it.
After carbon dioxide is cooled and compressed under high pressure to make liquid CO2 , dry ice is manufactured by allowing the liquid under pressure to expand to an ambient pressure. This produces Co2 “snow” that can be compressed into convenient dry ice blocks, nuggets or pellets. Dry ice at atmospheric pressure is -109 degrees Fahrenheit.
 
Principals of Dry Ice Cleaning:
Dry Ice blasting is a process in which particles of CO2 (dry ice) are propelled at high velocity to impact and clean a surface. The particles are accelerated by compressed air, usually in the range of 80 – 100 psi. Upon impact, the CO2 particles return to their natural state as a gas, thus disappearing as they clean.

When removing a brittle contaminant such as paint, the process creates a compression tension between the coating and the substrate. This wave has enough energy to overcome the bonding strength and literally pop the coating off from the inside out. When removing a malleable or viscous coating such is similar to high pressure water. When the particles hit, they compress and mushroom out, creating a high velocity snow flow that flushes the surface.

Why Consider Dry Ice Cleaning?
First, it’s Environmentally Safe. Second it’s clean. In most cases no disassembly is required, no masking, no cool down, no harsh solvents, no added waste and no damage to the equipment being cleaned. This reduces costs by increasing up time by allowing to “Clean In Place”. The process is also non-abrasive therefore preserving the integrity of the targeted surface. It is a quicker and more thorough cleaning compared to most other processes and it reduces or eliminates hazardous waste disposal.

How does this differ from sand blasting?
Sandblasting will profile metal and can damage a surface as well as leaving the used sand behind. at times mixed with hazardous waste thus increasing the volume of waste to be disposed. Our Dry Ice cleaning system, used for surface preparation and coating removal, uses dry ice pellets or salt/sand like granules made from our specialized “soft touch” unit is propelled by compressed air to remove contamination from surface areas. Upon impact, the trapped solid dry ice expands considerably removing the coating from the inside out. This results in a clean, dry, undamaged surface, with no secondary waste to clean. Our process is so versatile it can remove dust from delicate electrical wiring or several layers of heavily encrusted coats of unwanted materials.

What we Have Cleaned:
Electro Static Precipitators and Bag Houses (with our specialized equipment and experience we became the pioneers of bringing Dry Ice cleaning to these industries and more)
  • Heat exchangers
  • Rads, Electric Motors
  • All types of electrical components
  • Switch Rooms
  • Hot Metal Areas (no water in our process)
  • Hydraulic Systems
  • Sag, rod and ball mill bull and pinion gears
  • Overhead Cranes both mechanical and electrical systems
  • Baked on Dirt
  • Concrete, shotcrete, petro-tack and sulphurcrete
  • Pulp and Paper presses
  • Hot Molds (no cooling required)
  • Ventilation fans
  • Smoke damage (from delicate appliances to buildings)
  • Truck, auto and snow machine engines
  • Insulators
  • Augers
  • Kiruna Trucks

AND MUCH MUCH MORE