Restoring big commercial or industrial buildings after they have suffered damage due to smoke or fire could prove very costly with traditional cleaning methods, such as sand blasting, scraping and wire brushing. What is more, sand and wires, as you might expect, are harsh and abrasive, resulting in the scraping of the surface material and likely contributing to the damage of the underlying surface.

As an alternative, the use of dry ice in the form of small rice-sized pellets is a next generation development in cleaning technology. It is fast gaining acceptance of business owners and facilities management professionals alike.

Dry ice works in a way similar to sandblasting or high-pressure steam blasting; only dry ice produces better results at removing a variety of materials, such as asphalt, paint, tar, oil, grease, soot, decals, resins, dirt, ink and adhesives.

When the dry ice is blasted against the material that needs to be removed, it loosens the material from the surface, while the ice seeps into the material and comes in contact with the underlying surface, where it melts and gets converted into carbon dioxide gas. Due to its greater volume, the gas expands beneath the material and pushes the material off the surface.

The Broad Ranging Benefits of Dry-Ice Blasting

Apart from the above distinction between dry ice and other cleaning techniques, dry ice:

• Requires fewer operators to get the job done. In comparison, whereas three to five restoration cleaners are required to conduct cleaning through traditional methods, CORE's dry-ice blasting requires the services of one person.
• Significantly reduces downtime, since it needs only one day to clean an affected area. In comparison, traditional methods require five-to-six working days to clean the same area.
• Saves on cleaning expenses significantly - again, as it requires fewer resources and less downtime to conduct the job.
• Reaches the cracks, joints and creases that traditional cleaning methods cannot. In the case of fire damage, this helps by delivering an improved assessment of the extent of damage caused.
• Dissolves rapidly into the air, leaving behind only the removed material. This material can then be more easily disposed of, and does
  not release harmful gases into the atmosphere making the cleaning process less messy and cumbersome.
• Helps in the preservation of the surface integrity and its critical tolerances, resulting in cleaned equipment or machinery that lasts longer.
• Greatly assists in the easy removal of adhesives, toxic residues, soot and typical odor associated with fire.
• Dry ice is an approved medium by the EPA, USDA & FDA, and is non-toxic, non-hazardous and inhibits mold & bacteria growth.
• Dry ice blasting has been effectively used in EPA, USDA, FDA, AIB and GFSI inspected/certified facilities Dry ice blasting is safe to use with food processing equipment.
• Dry ice blasting reduces or eliminates personnel exposure to (and liability from) the use of dangerous chemical cleaning agents

Dry-Ice Blasting vs. Traditional Cleaning Methods - A Critical Comparison

Sandblasting vs. Dry-ice:

• Sandblasting requires the equipment or machinery to be shifted to a dedicated cleaning area. This increases the risk of equipment damage during transition.
• With the help of dry-ice, most of the equipment and machinery can be cleaned without the need to remove them from their place.

Steam or Water Blasting vs. Dry-ice:

• With the use of dry-ice, electrical parts and generators can be cleaned without getting them wet. The machinery can, thus, be put back into service immediately after cleaning.
• The use of dry ice for the removal of radioactive substances helps to ensure that nothing is left behind except for the substance requiring removal. This eliminates the need for large storage containers typically required to store contaminated water after the water blasting process.
• The removal of mold and mildew is far easier and cleaner with dry ice than with conventional water blasting.

Environmentally dangerous solvents vs. Dry-ice:

• Dry ice replaces the use of chemicals, such as trichlorethane, cresylic acid, methylene chloride and perchlorethane, which could prove highly dangerous to the surrounding environment.
• Eliminates the high cost of disposing off the chemical in a safe manner.

Clearly this specialty cleaning process should be conducted only by professionals certified by the American Society of Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc (ASHREA). CORE not only holds these required certifications, it has been a market leader in duct cleaning with the dry-ice methods above for several years now.

Our expert teams of professionals have wide experience in the specialty area of duct cleaning and offer state-of-the-art dry-ice blasting services for industrial and commercial buildings.

Contact a CORE Representative »