Cleaning with dry ice
The cleaning with dry ice, or cryogenic cleaning, is a revolutionary industrial method that use dry ice as cleaning product. This method is able to reduce cleaning time, machine stop time, rubbish draining costs and costs for equipment maintenance. Dry ice is commonly called carbon dioxide (CO2) at solid state that under athmosferic pressure finds itself at about -80° degrees. CO2 is a odourless and non-toxic gas. In drink industry it is added to beer and mineral water in order to preserve fresh taste for a longer period and to extend stability. Furthermore in the transformation from the solid to the gas state, carbon dioxide  exerts a bacteriostatic and antimycotic function, slowing down this way the microbiological flora proliferation and, as a consequence, assuring excellent hygienic conditions.  Another important feature of dry ice is that it leaves no remains of humidity on products it has touched. Indeed, while it sublimes, it produces a carbon dioxide saturated atmosphere which, being a dry gas, tends to remove humidity in the surroundings leaving no traces of water on surfaces handled with it. For this reason, cleaning with dry ice is recommended both in food industry and for the cleaning of electric installations

This procedure is based on 3 effects:
1. Thermal The thermal shock created by low temperature of dry ice makes crusts friable and separates them from the surface that has to be cleaned, removing them this way very easily.
2. Mechanical The dry ice pellets are small cylinders with a diameter of 3-16 mm. and they are speeded up by running air (Venturi system), then they hit with a high speed the crusts that in this way are removed.
3. Sublimation When the dry ice hits the dirty surface, it passes from the solid to the gas state; this transformation causes an expansion of around 700 times of the carbon dioxide volume and, as a consequence, the explosion of the crusts in the surface that has to be cleaned.

The cleaning with dry ice is an ideal solution for printing industry because:

• it reduces working hours. The characteristics of cryogenic cleaning can reduce dramatically cleaning times. There is no need to dismantel and then reassemble the equipment.
• it reduces stop time. The sandblast with dry ice can prevent work stops. The common cleaning by hand requires much time and the work is slow. On the contrary, with the dry ice technique, profits in production cycle can be really significant.
• it guarantees a more complete cleaning. The sandblast with dry ice cleans even slits that cannot be reached by hand.
• it guarantees a better performance. Printing quality is better because prints are cleaner and more uniform.
• it enlarges the life of a machine. A better performance and cleaner parts have as a result more lasting equipment.
• it guarantees a better safety. Chemical solvents can be removed, eliminating this way risks for workers.
• Finally, reduction of working hours, reduction of machine stop time, a longer life of the equipment and the reduction of rubbish draining costs have a real saving as a result.