Dry Ice is manufactured from Liquid CO2. The solidified carbon dioxide is pressed into large slabs of “Dry Ice” and then cut into 50 LB block form or processed as Dry Ice Pellets. Dry Ice is particularly useful for freezing and prolonging the amount of time a perishable item will stay frozen for in transit when there is no electrical refrigeration available.
Because of its extremely cold temperature: -109.3°F or -78.5°C, many industrial and consumer shippers of perishables often use dry ice even for non-frozen goods. Dry ice gives more than twice the cooling energy per pound of weight and three times the cooling energy per volume than regular water ice (H2O). It is often mixed with regular ice to save shipping weight and extend the cooling energy of regular ice.
Dry Ice is widely used because it is simple to freeze and easy to handle using insulated gloves. Dry Ice does not melt, it sublimates directly from a solid to a gas back into the atmosphere, leaving no mess, therefore it gets the name “Dry Ice.” Dry Ice sublimates at a rate of five to ten pounds every 24 hours in a typical ice chest. This sublimation continues from the time of purchase; therefore, pick up Dry Ice as close to the time needed as possible. Bring a Styrofoam cooler or some other insulated container to hold the Dry Ice and slow the sublimation rate.
REVIEW THE MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SAFE HANDLING OF DRY ICE.
