Dry Ice vs. Other Methods
Dry Ice Cleaning Comparison:
| Blasting Cleaning Technique |
Waste? |
Abrasive? |
Toxic? |
Electrically Conductive? |
Performance |
| 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 |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited |
* Each of these blasting materials becomes contaminated upon contact if used to clean hazardous objects. When the happens, these materials are then classified as toxic waste requiring safe disposal.
Advantages of Dry Ice Cleaning vs Traditional Methods:
| Issue |
Traditional |
Dry Ice Blasting |
| Equipment Downtime |
- Relocated for cleaning
- Disassembly/reassembly
- Drying time required
|
- Equipment can be cleaned in place
- Dry process - equipment can restart immediately after cleaning
|
| Hazardous Waste |
- Cleaner becomes and treated as as secondary contaminant
|
- No additional contaminates
- Dry ice sublimates (becomes a gas) with contact with the target surface
|
| Labour Hours |
- Intensive hand scrubbing
- Lengthy cleaning and follow-up cleaning
|
- Dramatically reduced - often completed in a quarter of time or better
|
| Quality of Cleaning |
|
|
| Potential Equipment Damage |
- Grit abrasions
- Grit contamination
- Movement of equipment to and from cleaning area
|
- No equipment damage
- Preventative maintenance very realistic as labour hours are much less
|
| Safety |
- Health threats from solvents
- Water-based cleaning pose hazards around electrical equipment
- Threats to the environment
|
- Standard safety precautions
- Dry process is safe around electrical equipment
|
| Cost |
- Cleaner becomes additional hazardous waste
- Expensive Solvents
- Additional labour
|
|
