Dry ice blasting is a form of carbon monoxide cleaning where dry ice (which is the solid form of carbon dioxide) is accelerated in a pressurized air stream to clean a specific surface. Dry ice blasting describes a system that produces a high temperature, low moisture vapor. The vapor contains only 5% to 6% water and is much less dense than the air we breathe.There is an alternative media known as ice blasting which is much less abrasive.
Dry-ice blasting leaves no chemical residue, since dry ice sublimates at room temperature. And, it is an extremely effective method. Basically, it involves propelling pellets of dry ice at extremely high speeds. The actual ice is pretty soft, and significantly less dense than other mediums used in blasting cleaning methods (for instance, sand or plastic pellets). The sublimation process of the ice absorbs a large amount of heat from the surface, which produces shear stresses from the thermal shock. This is a part of the disinfectant process, since the top layer of dirt or other contaminant is expected to transfer more heat than the underlying substrate, and flake off more easily.
Dry ice blasting is environmentally responsible since it contains no secondary contaminants, like solvents or grit media. It is clean, and environmentally responsibly.
One of the best things about dry ice blasting is that it allows most items to be cleaned in place, without time-consuming disassembly. It can be gentle enough to get smoke damage off of books, or aggressive enough to blast caked on slag from tooling.
There are several other cleaning options available, also. Steam cleaning systems are known to kill bed bugs up to 2- 3/8″ into a gap, and it is also very effective when bed bugs are on the surface of items. Steam kills 99% of common household germs and bacteria like E.Coli, salmonella, and staph.
Between a commercial dry steam cleaner, industrial steam generators, and Co2 blasting, your institution should be totally and effortlessly clean!
