Alternative cleaning
Dry-ice blasting
Also known as CO2 blasting, dry ice blasting, solid CO2 blasting.
Dry-ice blasting projects solid CO₂ pellets at supersonic velocity onto a surface. The pellets impact, sublimate from solid to gas on contact (absorbing local heat and producing thermal shock), and lift the deposit off the surface. The only secondary waste is the dislodged material itself — the dry ice converts entirely to CO₂ gas.
Industrial uses
- Offline cleaning of boiler internals during major outages
- Cement-plant cooler internals
- Heat-exchanger external cleaning
- General industrial surface cleaning where wet cleaning is undesirable
Position vs sonic horns
Dry-ice blasting is an offline technology — the boiler must be shut down and cooled, operators must access the cleaning area, and the cleaning happens during a planned outage window. Sonic horns are online technology that cleans during operation. The two technologies serve different points in the maintenance cycle and do not directly compete.
Related terms
Related terms
- Hydroblasting (offline cleaning)Hydroblasting uses high-pressure water (typically 700–2,000 bar) to remove hardened deposits from boiler tubes and process equipment during planned outages.
- Manual lancingManual lancing is operator-performed cleaning using handheld rods, lances or jets. Labour-intensive, HSE-burdened; the cleaning method of last resort in most industrial settings.