The Process
Dry ice blasting process is similar to technologies such as sand blasting, plastic bead blasting or soda blasting where the media is accelerated in a pressurized air stream (or other inert gas) to impact the surface to be cleaned or prepared. With dry ice blasting the media that impacts the surface is solid carbon dioxide particles. One unique aspect of using dry ice particles as a blast media is that the particles sublimate (vaporize) upon impact with the surface. The combined impact energy dissipation and extremely rapid heat transfer between the pellet and surface cause instantaneous sublimation of the solid CO2 into gas. The gas expands to nearly eight hundred times the volume of the pellet in a few milliseconds causing a “micro explosion” at the point of impact. 

Cleaning Media
Dry ice is the solid form of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas found naturally in our environment. For use in blasting operations the dry ice is manufactured into small pellets which resemble rice. The pellets are stored in plastic containers until they are used.

The Equipment
There are several types of blast machines. EMS Ice utilizes the Pellet Blast machine which has a hopper to store the ice pellets. Various nozzles are utilized to deliver the blast media depending on the material to be removed. Some nozzles are custom made to be able to reach and deliver the media at the proper angle, size and force. Depending on the application, EMS Ice also utilizes a high pressure diesel driven air compressor which can deliver the ice pellets at a much higher velocity for those tough jobs.