Dry Ice | What is Dry Ice and how can it be used?

What is Dry Ice and how can it be used?

One of Abdullah Hashim Industrial Gases & Equipment’s (AHG) standards products is Dry Ice. Dry ice is a solid form of carbon dioxide (CO2) that has a temperature of around -78°C (-109°F), due to this low temperature, it is most commonly used as a cooling agent. And it is becoming an increasingly more common household item for chilling drinks and preserving perishables such as food products and medicinal drugs. It can also be used to create smoke for theatrical purposes.

What is the most common use of Dry ice?

Dry ice is commonly used to chill food and keep it cold. This is because there are no chemicals involved in the cooling process, unlike with other cooling methods, such as refrigeration. For instance, a fish market will use dry ice to keep the seafood fresh and cold until customers purchase it. A seafood restaurant might also use dry ice to chill its fish dishes for about an hour before serving them to customers. Airlines also use dry ice to keep food frozen until it is served. Dry ice can also be used to create smoke for theatrical effects in plays, movies, and shows.

How can Dry Ice be used in the healthcare industry?

Healthcare workers also use dry ice to store and transport vaccines and other medicines because dry ice keeps them at a temperature low enough so that they don’t spoil for a long time.

Using Dry Ice as a blasting Medium:

One of the commercial uses for dry ice is to use it as an alternative to sand or other media that are used to clean surfaces using a media accelerated in a pressurized air stream. Dry-ice blasting is valued as it is non-abrasive, non-conductive, non-flammable, and non-toxic, unlike other media of blasting. Furthermore, dry-ice blasting does not create secondary waste or chemical residues as dry ice sublimates or converts back to a gaseous state when it hits the surface that is being cleaned. Dry-ice blasting does not require any clean-up of a blasting medium. It also reduces or eliminates employee exposure to the use of chemical cleaning agents.

About AHG’s ADAHI project:

One of the ways we, as Abdullah Hashim Industrial Gases & Equipment, use dry ice is to freeze sacrificial lambs  (Udhiya) during the hajj season. By utilizing dry ice, we were able to quickly freeze the sacrificial lambs (Udhiya) from a temperature of 35.0º to -20.0º degrees Celsius in 45 minutes. Through this quick-freeze initiative, we are able to increase the existing freezer’s capacity and also allow for the immediate and safe distribution of packaged and frozen Udhiya.

Proper usage of Dry Ice:

With the proper knowledge, It’s straightforward.

1. Dry ice should not be touched with bare hands, nor should there be any direct contact between dry ice and any bare skin. Since dry ice can irritate the skin, avoid direct contact by using gloves, tongs, or a towel whenever handling dry ice.
2. When transporting dry ice, take sublimation into consideration. Store your container in the trunk of your car or the bed of your truck, and keep your windows slightly down to let in some fresh air.
3. If you’re using an air-tight cooler, keep in mind that the dry ice will sublime, and carbon dioxide gas will pressurize the cooler as this happens, creating pressure that’s got to be relieved somehow. Unscrew the drainage cap slightly or open the cooler a few times to avoid the container rupturing.

At AHG, we have the largest Dry Ice production capacity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and utilizing our network of branches, we can cover a majority of the areas across the Kingdom. We have extensive hands-on experience using Dry ice in multiple industries and applications, and you can count on us to meet your Dry Ice needs and inquiries.