Dry ice blast cleaning and wet cleaning in a dry processing facility

Greetings,

We have a primarily dry grain processing facility, with only a steaming-rolling step and subsequent conveyors while drying that are "wet".

We are looking at utilizing dry ice blast cleaning for the "wet" areas, as well as cleaning in other parts of the plant, since it does not introduce moisture into the plant.  For the rest, we'll be using explosion-proof vacuums, as well as hand-brushing.

However, I'm still trying to figure out the best option for cleaning our floors.  Normally, one would think that wet mopping is the best option, but in the interest of keeping as little moisture as possible out of our facility, I'd like to explore other ideas.

Is dry ice blasting a practical and economic alternative for cleaning floors as well?  Since 95% of the plant is dry, do we even need to worry about floor cleaning beyond normal sweeping?  What about for the floor in the "wet" area?

Thoughts?  Opinions?  Pros vs. Cons?

Any input would be welcome!

Thanks,

Brian

Brian,

I don't think dry ice blasting of floors would be a good alternative.

When the dry ice hits something and sublimates, it does so at a great force. Anything on the floor would now be in the air, on your conveyors, etc.

Depending on the size of your facility, It would take a lot of money and a huge amount of time to clean floor areas with dry ice equipment.

I'd suggest a good old fashioned sweeping (or vacuuming, if practical), and then a "damp" mop if absolutely needed in the "dry" areas. Since the "wet" area is already wet, no harm in mopping in there.

Marshall

That's pretty much what I was thinking, Marshall...except that I probably didn't explain our "wet" area well enough - it's only wet inside the steam chamber, roller mill, and part of the conveyor, so the environment around it (walls, floors, etc.) stay dry for the most part, but may have some ambient moisture that could cause microbial growth...I'm thinking that maybe for this limited area, we'd dry ice blast (it's a small room, only about 100 square feet or so).

Thanks for the input, much appreciated!

Brian

Hi Parkz,

Some more icy thoughts here -

http://www.ifsqn.com...p-of-equipment/

Excellent - thanks, Charles!