May 10, 2024
Relying on its background in ethanol plant cleaning, Premium Plant Services leverages new technologies and methods to eliminate stubborn ethanol process residues. With the addition of two new Premium offices in New Jersey and Indiana, the company now has an expanded service area spanning the United States. Ian Hughes, general manager of the Midwest division of Premium Plant Services, explains that dry ice blasting is one of the innovations that makes cleaning safer and less messy.
Unlike hydroblasting, dry ice does not leave behind a messy slurry to be removed. Blasting also happens at a much lower pressure with dry ice, running at 120 psi rather than 10,000 to 20,000 psi, reducing the safety risk.
“We’ll use dry ice on separator cones, TOs (thermal oxidizers) and economizers, the HRSGs (heat recovery steam generators), the receiving lines, the RTOs—we can do all those with water—but with our expanded capabilities we can offer dry ice blasting to complement hydroblasting—giving plants the option to choose,” Hughes says.
The company’s dry ice blasting robot is the only one of its kind in the cleaning industry, Hughes explains. The robot is used for cleaning receiving lines and connections between grain bins; it is fitted with cameras on the front and back to ensure cleanliness. Able to clean lines ranging from eight to 52 inches in diameter, the dry ice robot is more effective than flushing the system with water.
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