'Dry ice' for surface cleaning Free

"Dry ice" for surface cleaning

Cryocleaning, the use of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice), has been used in the US for some five years for paint stripping applications in the automotive industry. It is now being promoted in both the US and the UK as an environmentally and effective alternative to abrasive or solvent cleaning of surfaces, including those to be painted.

The UK company Cryogenesis is promoting the solid CO₂ cleaning process and has demonstrated some impressive results. For example, a cast iron corebox used for producing pipe flange ends was cleaned in five minutes rather than the usual time which was measured in hours.

So how does it work? Clive Curtis, managing director of Cryogenesis, explains:Cryogenesis is a blasting process which uses Drice, a copyrighted type of specialised pelletised granulated dry ice. Similar in size to rice corns, the granules are created by expanded liquid carbon dioxide to a fine powder-like snow, which is subsequently pressed under high pressure through a matrix. Dry ice has a temperature of -78.5°C and possesses a number of special properties. When energy is added, for example, by heat or impact, it sublimes directly into the gas phase. The Cryogenesis process utilises this property.

The great benefit, of course, is that the process is environmentally friendly because only the dirt layers or coating have to be disposed of after cleaning. The CO₂evaporates into the atmosphere from whence it came. Cryogenesis are at Littlehampton, West Sussex BN17 5DF. Tel: 01903 731717.