Players in the downstream oil and gas industry are facing some of the biggest obstacles seen in decades. Refineries face the unique challenge of cleaning their facilities while mitigating the potential health and safety risks posed to their employees, as well as avoiding downtime that affects production and their bottom line. Emory Industrial Services is here to provide the downstream oil and gas industry with an innovative, cost-effective, and environmentally-conscious solution with dry ice blast cleaning services. By effectively cleaning your refinery facility and its equipment with dry ice, your operation can reduce unplanned maintenance and breakdowns, ultimately leading to a safer and more productive environment.

What is Dry Ice Blasting? 

As a leading provider of dry ice blasting services in the country, Emory’s professionals are experienced experts in the blasting process. Resembling the pressure washer you’d use in a self-service car wash, dry ice blasting uses solid carbon dioxide as a cleanser rather than water. In four steps, your refinery facility is cleaned and sanitized by trained dry ice professionals. 

  1. Using compressed air, dry ice in a pellet or shaved form is accelerated through a hose and nozzle at a high velocity. 
  2. The cold temperature of the dry ice creates a thermal shock that helps break the bond between the substrate and the contaminant. 
  3. When the dry ice hits the surface, it instantaneously changes from a solid to a gas, and the volume of the dry ice expands 800 times, causing micro gas explosions that pull the contaminant off the substrate from the inside out.
  4. The outcome is a clean surface. The process effectively removes residues, contaminants, dirt, oil, paint, grime, and more without damage to the surface, and without water.

Dry ice cleaning is ideal for refineries as an innovative solution, versus older, more traditional cleaning methods such as pressure washing and sand blasting. Benefits of dry ice blasting include reduced safety risk, downtown, and distractions, in addition to increased efficacy and reduced energy costs. 

Benefits of Dry Ice Cleaning

Reduced Safety Risk

When cleaning pressurized tanks, dry ice blasting is non-abrasive, so there’s no metal loss that would jeopardize the integrity of a tank, or other damage to your equipment. Using older methods, like pressure washing, leaves water which may be contaminated after impact; whereas dry ice turns to gas (sublimates) upon impact, and as a result, there’s no contamination risk from secondary runoff. 

Reduced Downtime

With dry ice blasting, fixed assets and equipment can remain in operation during the cleaning process, saving a refinery thousands of dollars in lost production time. Non-destructive testing (NDT) is much easier with no secondary waste, and also allows a facility to be cleaned with minimal to no disassembly whatsoever. Having no secondary runoff or waste also means there’s no messy, time-consuming cleanup. 

Reduced Distractions

When you hire Emory Industrial Services, we’re reliable, trustworthy, and hardworking. No babysitting needed. You can continue to focus on your business, and our trained, experienced experts will handle the rest. 

Additional Dry Ice Cleaning Benefits

Dry ice blasting is an eco-friendly process with no toxic chemicals, and is the most effective cleaning application available. Your business will save money on energy costs by cleaning radiators and coolers on a regular business, preserving the useful life of your fixed assets. 

What does Emory Industrial Services clean?

Dry ice cleaning can take care of nearly any surface with hard-to-remove contaminants, including vessels and tanks. Not only is dry ice blast cleaning or dry ice blasting the safest and most cost effective, it’s also the most effective at removing contaminants that wear down the life of your equipment. 

For more information on how Emory Industrial Services can assist your downstream operation, contact us today.