How Does It Work?

The process is broadly similar to all blast cleaning applications where abrasive media is accelerated in a stream of compressed air and directed at the surface to be cleaned – the thing that sets dry ice blast cleaning apart is that abrasive media is not used.

Dry ice blasting uses dry ice (solid CO²) as the blast media and due to its unique properties provides a non-abrasive, ecological ‘zero-waste’ alternative to the more ‘traditional’ methods and in comparison, is less intrusive and less aggressive even than the often cited ’least-harmful’ soda blasting.

Dry ice has a very low temperature (-79°C) and this powerful thermal energy is released on impact with the surface to be cleaned. On impact the ‘thermal shock’ effect causes the contamination to detach and as the dry ice pellets immediately sublime on contact (turning from solid to a harmless gas) there is no secondary or additional waste.