ShareDry-ice blasting: an efficient way to clean food-production equipment
Continental Carbonic claims it has found a way to clean food-production equipment with less water and faster results than conventional methods
Continental Carbonic promises a way to clean food-production equipment with less water and faster results than conventional methods.
Continental Carbonic has introduced dry ice blasting to several food-manufacturing facilities. Dry-ice blasting is a cleaning process whereby kinetic and thermal energy is transferred when accelerated dry-ice pellets strike a surface being cleaned. Dry-ice pellets are accelerated by compressed air to high speeds, fracturing the top layer of unwanted residue. Once the dry ice penetrates the residue, the temperature of both the residue layer and the substrate dramatically decreases. The different materials contract unequally and the adherence between them decreases. This thermal difference helps to separate the residue from the substrate. After the dry ice makes its initial impact, it instantaneously turns from a solid to CO2 gas, or “sublimates.” The volume expansion (by a factor of 700) causes a micro explosion that detaches the residue from the substrate. After blasting, the substrate is clean, dry and completely intact.
Dry-ice blasting has proven to be an attractive alternative cleaning solution to water-based methods. Since the dry ice sublimates into CO2 gas upon contact, no moisture is introduced into the cleaning process and no water has to be recovered. Cleaning with dry-ice blasting reduces current bacteria counts including Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria and removes the breeding grounds for future growth.
Moreover, according to Continental Carbonic, dry ice blasting has proven to be a faster cleaning process than traditional cleaning methods, reducing labor costs.
Continental Carbonic has introduced dry ice blasting to several food-manufacturing facilities. Dry-ice blasting is a cleaning process whereby kinetic and thermal energy is transferred when accelerated dry-ice pellets strike a surface being cleaned. Dry-ice pellets are accelerated by compressed air to high speeds, fracturing the top layer of unwanted residue. Once the dry ice penetrates the residue, the temperature of both the residue layer and the substrate dramatically decreases. The different materials contract unequally and the adherence between them decreases. This thermal difference helps to separate the residue from the substrate. After the dry ice makes its initial impact, it instantaneously turns from a solid to CO2 gas, or “sublimates.” The volume expansion (by a factor of 700) causes a micro explosion that detaches the residue from the substrate. After blasting, the substrate is clean, dry and completely intact.
Dry-ice blasting has proven to be an attractive alternative cleaning solution to water-based methods. Since the dry ice sublimates into CO2 gas upon contact, no moisture is introduced into the cleaning process and no water has to be recovered. Cleaning with dry-ice blasting reduces current bacteria counts including Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria and removes the breeding grounds for future growth.
Moreover, according to Continental Carbonic, dry ice blasting has proven to be a faster cleaning process than traditional cleaning methods, reducing labor costs.