Introduction
Remaining complaint with regulatory agencies and reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions is now part of nearly all rubber product manufacturers. Finding efficient, economical, environmentally responsible ways to clean without cleaning products contributing to the global warming concerns and having cleaning supplies ending up in landfills is a reality.
A previous article from the December 2019 issue of RubberWorld (Volume 261, Number 3) discussed how the dry ice cleaning process works and supported its claims of being non-abrasive, improving productivity and quality, and lowering costs. Our focus here will be on the environmentally friendly nature of cleaning with dry ice and how both the equipment and cleaning process can be remotely monitored.
Regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Air Resource Board (CARB) have commented on dry ice cleaning. Both agencies, the California Air Resource Board (CARG) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPS) note that cleaning with dry ice does not contribute to your greenhouse gas emissions score. The foundation for that is the fact that dry ice is made from recycled C02. Taking a by-product (waste C02) from numerous industrial processes and giving it a second, useful life.
Cleaning with dry ice often replaces other traditional cleaning methods, usually involving solvents, which give off a variety of man-made GHG emissions. Carbon dioxide (C02) is found naturally in our environment, and using dry ice eliminates the emissions of several harmful man-made gases, see Figure 1.
