CO2 Cleaning

Dry Ice

Dry ice pellets are made by taking liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) from a pressurized storage tank and expanding it at ambient pressure to produce snow. The snow is then compressed through a die to make hard pellets.

This dry ice blasting system utilizes non-abrasive technology and eliminates the need for chemicals. Dry ice blasting can reduce the work force to two. One person blasting and one feeding ice into the blast system. This high pressure system operates up to 300 psi and has a variable feed rate of 0 to 7 lbs per min.

Dry Ice Blasting Process

With the dry ice blasting process, dry ice (CO2) particles are propelled to supersonic speed impacting and cleaning a surface. The particles are accelerated by compressed air, just as with other blasting methods. Overall, there are three steps involved in dry ice blasting. It can be better understood in the following example:

Step #1 - Energy Transfer

With dry ice blasting, dry ice pellets are propelled out of the blasting gun at supersonic speed and impact the surface. The energy transfer knocks off the contaminant without abrasion. The force of this impact is the primary means of cleaning.

Step #2 - Micro-Thermal Shock

The cold temperature during dry ice blasting of the dry ice pellets hitting the contaminant creates a micro-thermal shock (caused by the dry ice temperature of -79º C) between the surface contaminant and the substrate. Cracking and delaminating of the contaminant occurs furthering the elimination process.

Step #3 - Gas Pressure

The final phase of dry ice blasting has the dry ice pellet explode on impact, and as the pellet warms it converts to a harmless CO2 gas which expands rapidly underneath the contaminant surface. This forces off the contaminant from behind. The contaminant is then relocated, typically falling to the ground. Since the dry ice evaporates, only the contaminant is left for disposal.