This is a detailed discriptive of dry ice blasting:
How it works
Uses
What is it capable of, but not limited to
For more information, go to IAQM dry ice blasting . Email us at info@iamq.com or call 972-564-0477 for consultation regarding your application in question or to schedule your dry ice blasting project.
In production and manufacturing, as with any environment, there is more than one way to skin a cat. There's safe, dangerous, complicated, simple, expensive, cost effective, hard, easy, "...the way we've always done it", and innovative. It should be quick to recognize the 180° variances which exist between each.
Let's look at these from a high level. Dangerous can come from many directions. There are hazzards of using chemical agents. You risk the substrate being cleaned. You risk employees who are trained and versed in their everyday work, but not in the use of chemicals, application of, necessary safety gear & containment, proper ventilation, and the list just goes on. I would have the use of chemicals fall under dangerous, complicated, expensive (adds extensive down time), hard, and my favorite, "the way we've always done it."
Tailing chemical usage is the addition of manual labor. The cleaning may be required in confined spaces. It will include small corners, angles, and reaching into the machinery. That alone is an elevated and unnecessary risk to good employees. This requires lock out tag out.
Blasting comes with a variety of media used; glass, sand, soda, walnut shell, other materials, and dry ice. Every one creates a secondary waste. Many are too abrasive for the molds and machinery to be cleaned. Many are toxic and can cause life long health issues when inhaled. Dry ice blasting does not create a secondary waste, nor require additional clean up after the cleaning. You only sweep or vacuum the displaced debris. This can be done in process in some instances with negative air, containment, and filtering.
OSHA is the mighty above all in production and manufacturing. OSHA can have an immediate impact from what was a cheap, quick fix to expensive in a matter of minutes. Thereafter comes the investigation and additional shut down, until the investigation is complete.
Safe, easy, cost efficient, simple, and innovative only describe dry ice blasting.
It is cost effective in a multitude of ways. First, dry ice blasting only requires minimal tear down. Blasting is effective with line if site. If we can see it, we can clean it. Dry ice blasting over manual labor reduces risk, less OSHA regulatory language, eliminates risk to your employees by taking them out of the work area, is EPA approved cleaning, reducing down time and returning the affected area to production sooner. Dry ice blasting restores your quality output after deterioration and build up begin to overflow onto your product.
Here are images of just a few different applications and uses with dry ice blasting
Dry Ice Blasting? Many people ask, “Why dry ice blasting instead of more traditional types of cleaning?” There are advantages to dry ice blasting and some disadvantages too. I will go through and simplify each.
The Bad
So let's just get the bad out of the way first. The list is much shorter and you will see why. Dry ice blasting comes with an initial sticker shock to most. This is because plant managers and finance teams only see the ice blasting costs. It is important to compare your total cost of using other methods to the cost of ice blasting. The cost of chemical agents, man power, additional safety precautions, OSHA fines for compliance failure and injuries, increased employee liability risks, prep times, equipment restoration / rebuild times, AND TOTAL DOWN TIME FRAMES.
The next issue is ice blasters are not abundant and readily available in every area. Many projects require mobilization. Dry ice blasters are not typically city centric, but will mobilize.
The third is dry ice blasting pellets availability. Dry ice blasting, with any contracting, requires planning and scheduling. There is a 2 business notice for ordering dry ice blasting pellets. Nothing detrimental, or out of the ordinary compared to any project. We all have to order materials and prepare to do a job. Again, this isn't terrible; just something to be aware of when searching for a dry ice blasting contractor.
Last - Rent it and do it yourself - well, you can. You can also rent a jack hammer and a bulldozer. Much like a large at home do-it-yourself project, it is always worth paying a reputable and insured contractor with ratings, reviews, and experience. The compressed air must be filtered and after-cooled; not readily available just anywhere. Compressor rental companies have to specialize in offering these units. The dry ice is - 109*. It is extremely sensitive to any amount of moisture coming through the air lines into the machine. This moisture can cause a true H2O ice block where the dry ice is fed through. That can cause a shut down from 3 to 6 hours depending upon the severity and amount of water let in. Dry ice blasting machines do not have trouble shooting codes or lighting. It is either on and working, or not. It is one of three things; 1. air issues, 2/ electrical / circuit issue, or 3. dry ice issue in the unit, in the feed, clog in the blasting hose, or at the gun. Which one is it and where is the question.
The Good It is amazing how it cleans a piece of equipment. Multiple industries are moving to dry ice for cleaning. One ice blaster can often do in one hour what takes a 4 man crew 4 hours (applications & debris levels can vary). So imagine a 4 man crew manually cleaning that takes 4 days. That is 4 days of shut down and lost production in addition to all of the risk, time, a designated safety officer, additional daily safety meetings, and the cost factors listed before. One ice blaster can typically do that same job in one 8 hour day. So all of the sudden, ice blasting is no longer so expensive when you have 3 days of production returned to you. Production = money! The same is true in fire and mold remediation. The job can take 3 days less, returning the home owner back to their normal life that much sooner.
Dry ice blasting is well known for quality restoration to production equipment. Regular cleaning adds to the life of any equipment. It reduces the level of friction and resistance during operation. These are hidden reductions in costs.
There is no physical remaining by-product of dry ice cleaning. Previous cleaning with water, chemicals, soda, and sand blasting would create a big mess to clean up afterwards. This is not true with dry ice blasting. Upon the dry ice impact to the surface, dry ice immediately supplements in to a gas, leaving no additional by-product cleanup. Once again, returning to production that much sooner.
With the world becoming more environmentally conscious, dry ice blasting has a huge advantage. Dry ice is made from CO2 gas. Dry ice is a recycled material to begin with. The waste cleanup from a cleaning job is minimal. Because dry ice turns directly in to a gas, it does not need cleanup. The only cleanup needed is for the waste/debris that get blasted off while cleaning. Imagine having to pay for chemical waste disposal after cleaning. In many plant cases, every chemical brought into the plant by contractor, or direct deliver has to be registered with the safety officer on site. This comes with hazard coding, as well as safety response protocols in case of spills, protocols for if the agent comes into contact with the skin, eyes, or is inhaled. Add another protocol for combustible chemicals (almost all cleaning chemical agents!).
A few simple letters every safety officer has to live by... OSHA. Here is an exert from the OSHA Fact Sheet document titled, "Protecting Workers from the Hazards of Abrasive Blasting Materials"
Alternative, less toxic blasting materials include:
Dry ice
The first recommendation is dry ice. It is easy to see why companies are moving away from the traditional cleaning.
Now here is what the same document also says about health hazards -
Health Hazards
Abrasive blasting operations can create high
levels of dust and noise. Abrasive material
and the surface being blasted may contain
toxic materials (e.g., lead paint, silica) that are
hazardous to workers.
Silica sand (crystalline) can cause silicosis,
lung cancer, and breathing problems in
exposed workers
Coal slag and garnet sand may cause lung
damage similar to silica sand (based on
preliminary animal testing)
Copper slag, nickel slag, and glass (crushed
or beads) also have the potential to cause
lung damage
Steel grit and shot have less potential to cause
lung damage
Slags can contain trace amounts of toxic metals
such as arsenic, beryllium, and cadmium.
That is a pretty dark list. It is like the side effects portion of a drug commercial, BUT nothing to address the health hazards of dry ice. Now let's not be fooled. Dry ice blasting must have proper ventilation to avoid asphyxiation. Dry ice is CO2 in solid form and upon impact from blasting returns to it's natural gas state.
As with any blasting environment, PPE is to be worn at all times to include, but not limited to eye and hearing protection.
Dry ice blasting is non abrasive. Simply, this means that dry ice blasting will not damage most of your equipment or surfaces like sand or chemicals would. When a dry ice pellet hits a surface, it sublimates in to a gas. The process has zero impact to most equipment itself. It is however very effective for removing debris, adhesives, build up, coatings,film, grease, oil, and other production created layers.
Dry ice blasting is non-conducting, so it is ideal around robotics and most other electrical equipment. Just like standard equipment, electronics need to be cleaned. Fragmenting nozzles control the size of the dry ice pellet and it can be dialed down to basically snow texture. Water and sand blasting on electrons are not a good solution and can result in damage to the equipment. Both also can conduct electricity and pose shock hazards. Dry ice blasting is a great solution for that. The pressured air for dry ice blasting is after-cooled and filtered, so no water is getting to the equipment blasted. For more insight on dry ice blasting go to http://www.iaqm.com/industrial-cleaning/
It is the time of year for holiday shut downs and skeleton crews in many of the manufacturing facilities across the US. This is the time for much needed cleaning and maintenance. These jobs have been put off all year long for the sake of keeping the production going.
On our page below, there is a great deal of information on dry ice blasting and how it works. Dry ice blasting is EPA & FDA approved cleaning. The dry ice is environmentally friendly. During blasting, the dry ice dissipates upon impact of the substrate after breaching the layer to be removed.
This method reduces down time. Dry ice blasting reduces labor cost and times. Applications may vary. A dry ice blasting team can do a job in 6 to 8 hours which traditionally takes 4 to 6 people to do over a period of days.
IAQM dry ice blasting paint removal from a cinder block wall.
The dry ice blasting doubles as surface preparation for the reseal and repaint on this a commercial building. This works the same as well for ornamental fencing, gates, and metal surfaces. Through dry ice blasting, the labor time is cut into a third on this particular job. It also replaces a team of 8 which would otherwise be required, and still take much more time.
For more information about IAQM and our dry ice blasting, click on the link below. To schedule a consult, questions about your project, and scheduling, call (972) 564-0477.
IAQM has been using Cold Jet equipment since we started ice blasting. This is yet another great application.
Look at all the production in full swing, without interruption. This is the number one reason engineers, plant managers, production managers, & maintenance managers prefer dry ice blasting.
Call IAQM to schedule your production cleaning or consultation.
Many industries use industrial ovens to heat treat, cure, and dry parts. Over time, build up occurs on the inside. This will interfere at some point with heat transfer, heat distribution, the quality of the finished product, time frames, energy costs, and overall cleanliness. Manufactures routinely clean industrial ovens during preventative maintenance or scheduled shutdowns. Each oven producer has their suggested maintenance and cleaning schedules. The need becomes more frequent with aging units. It isn't cost effective to repeatedly purchase a new unit, but it is to dry ice blast one. If the product is a food, the additional concern is the desired flavor, uneven cooking, potential spot burning, appearance, and undesired excessive drying out.
When should blasting occur? The best time to schedule cleaning is ahead of, or in collaboration with routine maintenance. Another option is when the heating is no longer baking / curing evenly. When you start seeing signs of heated residue, ash, burn marks, and, or the normal curing process is now taking longer to complete. Blasting can be done any time access is allowed, on any shift, during, or around operation hours.
Ice blasting is a mobile operation. Dry ice blasting can occur inside your facility, or outside according to weather allowance. Ovens can be blasted in place, which is the practice of choice by most facilities.
Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. Dry ice blasting is the only form of non-abrasive blasting, where dry ice pellets are accelerated in a pressurized air stream and directed at the surface in order to clean it. the method is similar to other forms of abrasive blasting such as sand blasting, plastic bead blasting, or soda blasting but substitutes dry ice as the medium. Dry ice blasting leaves no chemical residue. Dry ice sublimates at room temperature.
Dry ice blasting reduces the down time of the unit. Dry ice blasting can reduce the cleaning time by up to 60% on most units. There are many testimonials to this fact from plant and maintenance managers. We can help encourage production and maintenance to be on the same team by helping get the unit(s) back into production faster than traditional cleaning methods of the past. Dry ice blasting is both EPA and FDA approved cleaning method.
IAQM is the dry ice blasting service of choice for North Texas and the surrounding states. The IAQM dry ice blasting team is completely mobile and able to service the entire US. IAQM has been in business almost 15 years. IAQM maintains A+ ratings with both the Better Business Bureau and Angie's List.
