Dry Ice Properties & Features

Discover more about our wide range of dry ice products.

Drikold™ is made using recovered CO2 from fertiliser and bioethanol processes, which are themselves aimed at reducing environmental impact.
Drikold™ has more than three times the cooling capacity of a water ice cube of the same size.
Drikold™ is odourless, tasteless and can be used to help preserve products due to its bacteriostatic properties.
CO2 gas produces a protective inert atmosphere, extending the shelf life of perishable goods.

Properties of dry ice

Drikold™ is dry, non toxic, inert, non flammable, colourless, tasteless, odourless and residue free. It produces a bacteriostatic and fungistatic effect and generates no waste.

What is dry ice?

Drikold™ is Nippon Gases trade name for dry ice, which is carbon dioxide (CO2) in its solid state. The product has a temperature of -78.6 ºC (-109.5 ºF), whereas traditional water ice is only 0ºC. Drikold™ is produced by compressing and cooling gaseous CO2 into liquid, and then allowing it to expand to produce CO2 snow. The CO2 snow is then compressed into conveniently sized Blocks, Pellets and Slices.

What are its properties?

When dry ice exchanges its latent cold energy to its surroundings, it changes from a solid carbon dioxide directly back to a gas without going through the liquid phase. This transformation process is known as sublimation. Every kilo of dry ice generates 0.54m3 of carbon dioxide gas as it sublimates from its solid state.

What are the thermal advantages of dry ice over water ice?

The low temperature super-cool properties of dry ice makes it a highly flexible cooling agent. Dry Ice offers a much superior cooling capacity than that of water ice, as it maintains efficient and effective cooling capacity for many hours. Another key difference is that whilst regular ice readily melts into water, dry ice lasts much longer and leaves no residue at all after usage.

What other unique effects does it have?

Dry ice is also considered a bacteriostatic and fungistatic agent. Its sublimation leads to the generation of an atmosphere saturated with CO2 gas that exerts an antimicrobial action.

The development of bacteria, molds and yeasts can therefore be slowed dramatically, thereby contributing to a higher quality preservation of food and perishable goods. The generation of CO2 gas produces a protective inert atmosphere, which displaces oxygen from the inside of packaging and transportation containers, thereby contributing to enhance their microbiological quality, prevent oxidation and maintain optimum preservation conditions for perishables.