General information about dry ice

Dry ice is the common name for solid CO2. At atmospheric pressure it has a temperature of approx. -79 °C (-110°F). The solid CO2 goes directly into the gaseous state. This evaporation (sublimation) leaves no residues. Dry ice is non-toxic, non-flammable, inert, odourless and bacteriostatic. It is white and has a density of approx. 1'500 kg/m3 (93.6 lb/ft3) in its compact state. Dry ice is an ideal refrigerant, which is particularly suitable for various applications. It has a high cooling capacity and the heat transfer is very high when it is in direct contact with the cold material.

Dry ice is an ideal cooling media which can be used for many applications. It has a high cooling capacity. Dry ice blocks/slices or dry ice pellets are used for cooling purposes.

ASCO Dry Ice Blasting is a powerful, gentle, dry and ecologically friendly cleaning method causing no secondary waste. It is applied in many industries. For the cleaning of surfaces with our ASCO dry ice blasting technology dry ice pellets with the diameter of 3 mm (0,12 in) are standardly used. Dry ice pellets with a diameter of 1.7 mm (0,06 in) can also be used for the cleaning of delicate surfaces. For cooling purposes dry ice blocks and pellets with a bigger diameter are used.

Dry ice is produced from liquid carbon dioxide (CO₂). Inside a dry ice pelletizer, the liquid carbon dioxide is expanded under controlled conditions to form dry ice snow. This snow is then pressed through an extruder plate into round, hard pellets (elongated grains with a diameter of 3 mm or 1.7 mm according to the used extruder plate) for dry ice blasting purposes or into larger pellets/dry ice slices/blocks for cooling purposes. 

Dry ice is an ideal cooling media which can be used for many applications. It has a high cooling capacity. Dry ice blocks/slices or dry ice pellets are used for cooling purposes.

In-house dry ice production starts paying at a need of several hundred kilograms dry ice per week. ASCO is in a position of providing interesting all-in-all CO₂ concepts, these can be realised without making any major investments. 

Advantages of an in-house dry ice production:

• Less dry ice loss due to sublimation
• More flexibility as you always have freshly produced dry ice at your disposal
• Better and faster cleaning results because the fresher the dry ice, the more effective the cleaning
• Less dry ice used
• Shorter production standstills
• Less time and money spent on buying and transporting