Dry ice packs cool value

THE SIMPLEST solutions are often the most effective, and so it is with Dry Ice International which is finding a growing market for its simple yet effective product.
Dry Ice is often used for the transport of non-frozen goods, giving more than twice the cooling energy per kilogram of weight and three times the cooling energy per volume than regular water ice.
“It is often mixed with regular ice to save shipping weight and extend the cooling energy of water ice,” says co-founder of Dry Ice International Hendrik Strampe. “Sometimes Dry Ice is made on the spot from liquid CO2 and packed in the top of a shipping container offering extended cooling without electrical refrigeration equipment and connections,” he told FTW.
It is currently used in the transport of a variety of frozen or fresh goods, from ostrich and other meat products to ice cream, fruit and fruit salads, asparagus, flowers and other high value cargoes.
Its range of applications is however many and varied. The product is used to super cool alcohol for branding horses and cattle, while many medical offices, including SA Blood, Ampath, World Courier and others ship biological specimens in Dry Ice for laboratory testing or further processing.
It is also used by companies such as Smith and Nephew to keep bone morrow frozen when it is shipped.
The product will also keep flowers cool and delay blooming, while a small additional amount of carbon dioxide will increase the rate of plant growth. Some strawberry farmers in Hartbeespoort, for example, are now pre-dosing carbon dioxide in the water supply to stimulate growth.