Dry ice cleaning is an innovative cleaning technology that can save both time and money in the processing and packaging industry. Equipment and facilities get dirty with ink, glue, grease, wax, plastic/rubber molding process residues, carbon residue, proteins, seasonings, crumbs and other buildup, which prevents equipment from operating at peak efficiency and can shorten asset life. Traditional cleaning methods can be time-consuming, ineffective, involve significant amounts of chemicals or water – with the resulting residues and secondary waste – or rely on harmful abrasives that cause damage and shorten the asset life of the equipment.
Using non-abrasive particles of dry ice, accelerated with compressed air, effectively replaces traditional cleaning methods with a superior process. As the dry ice particles sublimate on impact, there is no secondary waste created, and equipment can be cleaned dry and in place without time-consuming disassembly. Additionally, dry ice is food-grade quality and can reduce contamination on surfaces of bacteria such as Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria. It can also reduce cross-contamination caused by nuts and other allergens, and remove protein residues on processing and packaging equipment.