Cleaning equipment throughout plants with dry ice provides many advantages. Below is a list of these advantages from a Cost, Safety, and Quality perspective.
- Eliminates waste disposal costs
- Lowers costs of consumables
- Dry Ice Blasting System is completely self-contained (doesn’t use plant utilities)
- A various number of blasting units can accomplish a large amount of work in a short period of time
- Decreases labor-time of scrubbing and manual cleaning allowing employees to concentrate on other tasks
- Reduced downtime
- Equipment is cleaned in place
- Work can be performed while plant is in operation
- No extended downtime waiting for surface to dry
- No cool down required so cleaning can take place at substrates operating temperature
- No damage to equipment
- Extends equipment life because ice blasting does not abrade, wear, pit, or erode equipment surfaces
- Elimination of equipment damage from transit to or from the dedicated cleaning area
- The most environmentally safe way to clean a surface
- The safest way to clean a surface
- No harmful chemicals
- No waste generated
- No disposal of large amounts of materials
- Non-abrasive
- Almost any surface can be cleaned
- Completely dry
- Non-Toxic (Carbon Dioxide is safer than toxic or environmentally harmful chemicals)
- Non-Conductive
- No harmful emissions
- Safe for employees (No hazardous chemicals eliminates employee exposure and corporate liability)
- Safe for end products
- Safe for the environment
- Safe for equipment
- Provides a quicker and superior clean
- Provides a perfectly clean, dry and prepared surface for recoating
- No moisture
- Doesn’t burn out fixtures or damage electrical equipment
- Aggressive enough to clean tough surfaces and sensitive enough to clean delicate, e.g. industrial control panels, man fans, and other electrically sensitive equipment
- Cleans nooks and crannies or disposal problems
- No messy clean-up, no collection or disposal problems
- Stops the growth of mold, mildew, bacteria, and other fungi as well as stops odors at the source by elimination of the bacterial host environment (not as a masking agent or cover-up)
- No disassembly and re-assembly of equipment
- Non-Abrasive, therefore, no surface stresses are created and no change in cavity size or round corners through wear
- No special preparation is required, e.g. masking and covering
- Plastic, glass, rubber, steel, and concrete can all be cleaned
- Electrical or areas around bearings can be cleaned
- Helps equipment run more efficient
- Improves maintenance efforts
- Production equipment normally dismantled and transported to special area can be cleaned safely in place on the production floor, saving substantial downtime and other resources
Applications
- Packaging machines
- Machine lines
- Conveyer belts
- Motors, engines
- Augers
- Fans
- Ceilings, walls, floors
- Steel beams
- Support columns
- Entire rooms
- Overhead piping
- Framework
- Ovens, freezers
- Tanks, silos
- Hoppers, bins
- Molds, dyes
- Inside Accumulators and digesters
- Head boxes
- Heat exchangers
- Ships
- Air exchangers
- Central vacuum pumps (exhausters)
- Inside dryer cans
- Build up on outside of dryer cans
- Ends of dryer cans for X-raying
- Rollers
- Control panels
- Moguls
- Coater heads
- Air bars
- Resin covered floors
- Disassembled machinery parts
- Churns
- Filters
- Powder rooms
- Presses
- Bridges
- Carrier units
- Exterior of buildings
- Cranes
Dry Ice Blast Cleaning Comparison Chart
| Blasting Cleaning Technique | Waste for Disposal | Abrasive | Toxic | Electrically Conductive | Performance Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry Ice | No | No | No | No | Excellent |
| Sand | Yes | Yes | No* | No | OK |
| Glass Beads | Yes | Yes | No* | No | OK |
| Walnut Shells | Yes | Yes | No* | No | Limited |
| Steam | No | No | No | Yes | Poor |
| Solvents | No | Yes | Yes | Limited |
* Each of these blast cleaning materials becomes contaminated upon contact if used to clean hazardous objects. When that happens, these materials are then classified as toxic waste requiring safe disposal.
