Going green is the new black.
There is a growing interest in doing whatever you can to play a part in protecting Mother Nature, and everything from cars to cleaning products have been altered to leave less of a carbon footprint. There’s also a growing number of Americans interested in limiting their exposure to chemicals, and many of them will pay more for services and products that can reduce their chemical exposure.
With this new demand for organic and natural cleaning solutions, many companies are looking for green ways to clean without chemicals. While sanitizing and cleaning without chemicals can sound like a fairy tale at first, it’s not. In fact, you can sanitize and clean pretty much any surface using nothing but two of the most abundant and natural molecules on earth, CO2 and H20.
So here is everything you need to know about cleaning with CO2. Specifically, a proven process known as dry ice blasting.
What is dry ice/CO2 blasting?
This is a form of carbon dioxide cleaning where dry ice, which is a solid form of carbon dioxide, is accelerated using dry vapor steam via industrial steamers. These dry ice pellets are directed at a surface in order to clean it. The system produces a high temperature, low moisture vapor that only contains about 5 to 6% of water and is much less dense than the air we breathe.
How is it used?
A dry blast operator propels pellets of dry ice at extremely high speeds to the surface that needs cleaning, and upon impact the pellets sublime almost immediately. The soft pellets are then turned into kinetic energy that absorbs a large volume of heat from the surface. This method works so well because the dirtier surface will transfer more heat, therefore flaking off more easily.
What equipment is used for this process?
The dry ice blasting equipment needed is relatively simple. All you need is a large block of ice and a single hose system that will deliver strong blasts of ice to the surface. You can see some of our commercial and industrial CO2 dry ice blasting equipment here.
When is dry ice blasting typically used?
Typically, CO2 blasting is used when there is a need for a more aggressive, chemical-free cleaning. Not only is this process green, but it’s already being used in the toughest industrial environments. It has proven to be successful with commercial food production facilities, as dry ice blasting is effective in removing Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria bacteria from surfaces. This is extremely helpful, as these microorganisms can cause serious foodborne illnesses.
Stay tuned for our second installment in this series about cleaning without chemicals, which will cover steam cleaning.