Applications 

 

 

Solventless degreasing

Ice blast is ideally suited for the remanufacturing of machinery components that contain oil and grime. Ice blast can be used for superficial cleaning prior to disassembly as well as component cleaning once disassembled as shown in Figure 13.

 

 

Figure 13: Ice blast for degreasing

 

As ice blast uses no cleaning chemicals, the wastewater containing dirt and oil can easily be separated and treated, as there are no emulsifying agents.

 

 

Machinery and component refurbishing

The following illustrates a range of applications for the economic use of ice blast in component cleaning as part of refurbishing in the electrical utility sector and aerospace engine turbines. (Figure 14)

 

Figure 14a: Motor refurbishing.

 

 

Figure 14b: Ice blast for refurbishing

 

 

Recycling and recovery

Ice blast is used for removing mis-aligned insulation foam from defective parts so that new foam can be applied, thereby salvaging the higher value component. (Figure 15) The cost of this ice blast recovery operation is about $0.35 per piece.

 

 

Figure 15: Ice blast for material recovery

 

Ice blast can remove chrome from plastic grills for recycling. (Figure 16) However, the economics of this process has not been evaluated.

 

 

Figure 16: Ice blast for recycling

 

In the US, one manufacturer produces about 20 million pounds of scrap vinyl from dashboard and interior components. These are trucked to a landfill at a total cost of about $0.55/lb. Scrap vinyl, contaminated with glue (difficult to remove) and foam backing (easy to remove), has a commercial value in the range of a few cents a pound. Non-contaminated vinyl can be recycled and has a commercial value of about $1.50 per pound. Ice blast was used to remove the glue and foam from scrap vinyl to below 2% contamination at a cost of $1.15 per pound and that with process improvement this cost is expected to be about $0.80 per pound [7]. A sample of partially decontaminated vinyl is shown below in Figure 17.

 

 

Figure 17: Partially decontaminated vinyl

 

 

Facility decommissioning

Waste minimization and superior cleanliness combined to position ice blast as a viable process for structural rehab or decommissioning. Its effectiveness enabled a contractor to a meet production in the asbestos abatement of the 43rd floor of a high-rise building in Portland, Oregon. Prior to the closing of a manufacturing plant for shot blast and heat treat, ice blast was used to clean the concrete floor saturated with shot, oil and grime. Ice blast was first used to remove the oil-saturated shot from the floor. The cleaning rate was about 25 M2 / hour. A biodegradable detergent was sprayed on the concrete floor to “extract” the oil. The floor was ice blasted again to produce a floor meeting “release” specification. The production rate was about 40 M2 / hour. Total liquid waste generated averaged 6.4 L/100M2 for this double application of ice blast

The US Navy uses ice blast to remove loose lead paint from buildings prior to encapsulation. There was zero liquid waste generation and the air-borne lead dust level was significantly below specification. The effectiveness of the process produced tremendous savings as shown in Table 3 [8].

 

Manual

IceBlast

900 hours

375 hours

8 – 10 men

5 men

4 high lifts

2 high lifts

$ 432.000

$ 252.000

 

Table 3: Cost savings achieved by US Navy

 

 

 

Automated ice blast systems

Ice blast systems have been automated to provide low cost and high quality cleaning for manufactured parts in the automotive industry. For engine component disassemble and remanufacturing requirements, many components can be cleaned with such automated systems. Standard automation for generic ‘round part’ cleaning, for example, can handle a large number of automotive components in the remanufacturing sector. Figure 18 shows an automated ‘round part’ cleaning cell used in the manufacture of automatic transmission gears [9].

 

 

Figure 18: An automated gear cleaning machine

 

This type of machine is suitable for cleaning recycled items in the utilities industry shown below in Figure 19.

 

 

Figure 19. Recyclable ‘Round parts’ from the utilizes industry

 

 

Waste and dosage reduction in nuclear plants

One major use for ice blast is in the disassembly of nuclear power plants. Ice blast has excellent decontamination factors, low operating costs and simple to scale up. It can be used in decommissioning, dose reduction for workers and daily decontamination activities. Ice blast has been used for dose savings in the maintenance of steam generators at a Canadian nuclear power plant [10]. The table below lists the maintenance activities and corresponding dose expenditure (after decontamination). 

 

Activity

Man-mSv

Boiler modifications

11,88

Primary side tubesheet inspection

81,30

Boiler tube plugging

 9,10

Divider plate inspection

22,18

Divider plate repair (replace)

204,37

total

328,83

 

Table 4: Activity dosage after ice blast

 

These numbers indicate that with ice blast pre-decon, a dose savings (gamma only) of approximately 1152 mSv can be realized for steam generator maintenance.

 

Read further >>

 

 

[7] Visaisouk, S., 1994, Use of Ice Blast Surface Scrubbing Technology in Separation and Reclaim of Automotive Interior Fabrics, Proceedings of Auto Recycle ’94, pp. 291-298.

[8] Tippett, J., 2000, Lead Abatement Using Ice, Naval Environmental Managers Annual Meeting, Port Hueneme, CA, April. 

[9] Revolution, 2002, Cleaning Gear with Ice Chips – and Nothing Else, Gear Technology Magazine, May/June, pp. 9-11. [10] Martin, S., 1997, PLGS Steam Generator Decontamination Using Ice Blast, International ALARA Symposium, Orland FL, March.