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  3. Where Does the Dirt Go During Dry Ice Blasting?

Where Does the Dirt Go During Dry Ice Blasting?


Where does the contamination go during dry ice blasting?


Dry ice cleaning (also called "dry ice blasting") works differently than traditional abrasive cleaning. This process uses dry ice pellets (solid carbon dioxide, CO₂) that are blasted at high speed onto a dirty surface. Here's how dirt and contamination are removed:

  1. Mechanical impact: The dry ice pellets hit the surface at high speed. This impact breaks the bond between the contamination and the underlying material.

  2. Thermal shock: Dry ice has an extremely low temperature (-78.5 °C / -109.3 °F). When it touches the dirty surface, it causes the contamination to rapidly cool, which often makes it crack and separate from the surface.

  3. Sublimation: After impact, the dry ice immediately sublimates (changes from solid directly to gas) — it leaves behind no secondary waste (unlike sandblasting or soda blasting, which do). 

  4. Removal of debris: The dislodged dirt either falls to the ground or is removed by an extraction system (if available). So the dirt "disappears" from the surface — it's physically separated and removed, while the dry ice itself completely evaporates.


During dry ice blasting, the dirt doesn't disappear, but instead:

  1. It is mechanically separated from the surface — it either breaks into pieces or comes off entirely.

  2. It falls to the ground near the cleaned area in the form of dust, debris, or loosened material.

  3. It can be blown away into the surroundings if high pressure is used or if there's no proper extraction.

  4. Ideally, it’s captured using a vacuum system, filter unit, or cleaned up afterwards manually.


Example:

If you're cleaning a car engine and removing grease with dry ice:

  • The dry ice sublimates (turns directly from solid to CO₂ gas and disappears).

  • The grease is broken down and dislodged, often into particles, droplets, or a film.

  • Those particles fall beneath the engine or are blown away — and need to be collected afterward.


Dry ice cleaning is “dry” and leaves no secondary waste, but the dirt that’s removed is still physically there — it must be manually or mechanically cleaned up after the blasting process.