Sodablasting is a process in which sodium bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula Na HCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda . The natural mineral form is...

 is applied against a surface using compressed air

Compressed air

Compressed air is air which is kept under a certain pressure, usually greater than that of the atmosphere. In Europe, 10 percent of all electricity used by industry is used to produce compressed air, amounting to 80 terawatt hours consumption per year....

. An early use was to restore the Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

 in the late 1980s.

Sodablasting is a non-destructive method for many applications in cleaning, paint stripping, automotive restoration

Automotive Restoration

Automobile restoration is the process of repairing the degraded aspect of a car to return it to an overall "authentic" condition. To renovate a car without updating or upgrading it by keeping in line with how it would have appeared when first offered for sale...

, industrial equipment maintenance, rust

Rust

Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides. In colloquial usage, the term is applied to red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture...

 removal, graffiti

Graffiti

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....

 removal, molecular steel passivation

Passivation

Passivation is the process of making a material "passive", and thus less reactive with surrounding air, water, or other gases or liquids. The goal is to inhibit corrosion, whether for structural or cosmetic reasons. Passivation of metals is usually achieved by the deposition of a layer of oxide...

 against rust

Rust

Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides. In colloquial usage, the term is applied to red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture...

, oil removal by saponification

Saponification

Saponification is a process that produces soap, usually from fats and lye. In technical terms, saponification involves base hydrolysis of triglycerides, which are esters of fatty acids, to form the sodium salt of a carboxylate. In addition to soap, such traditional saponification processes...

 and translocation, masonry cleaning and restoration, soot remediation, boat hull cleaning and for food processing facilities and equipment.

Applications

Sodablasting can be used for cleaning cars, boat hulls, masonry, and food processing equipment. Sodablasting can also be used to remove graffiti and to clean structural steel. Soda blasting is very effective for mold and fire/smoke damage cleanup as it cleans and deodorizes.

One paint manufacturer, Southern Polyurethanes, recommends against using their automotive epoxy primer over sodablasted substrates. A refinish specialist from a major vehicle manufacturer does not recommend sodablasting prior to automotive refinishing.

Equipment

A sodablaster is a self contained system that includes a blast generator, high pressure compressed air, moisture decontamination system, blast hose, and a blast nozzle. The blast nozzle in sodablasting applications is not a typical wear part, as a result nozzles can be ceramic or metal, such as tungsten carbide

Tungsten carbide

Tungsten carbide is an inorganic chemical compound containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. Colloquially, tungsten carbide is often simply called carbide. In its most basic form, it is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into shapes for use in industrial machinery,...

.

The blasting material consists of formulated sodium bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula Na HCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda . The natural mineral form is...

 (also known as baking soda). Blasting soda is an extremely friable material that has micro fragmentation on impact, literally exploding away surface materials without damage to the substrate.

A sodablaster differs from a sand blaster in that the sodablaster is a direct pressure system, not gravity-fed. The blast media is directly forced out of the pressure vessel

Pressure vessel

A pressure vessel is a closed container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure.The pressure differential is dangerous and many fatal accidents have occurred in the history of their development and operation. Consequently, their design,...

, not introduced into a stream of compressed air.

See also

• Dry ice blasting
  Dry ice blasting
  Dry ice-blasting is a form of abrasive blasting, where dry ice, the solid form of carbon dioxide, is accelerated in a pressurized air stream and directed at a surface in order to clean it....
  
  
• Graffiti Blasters
  Graffiti Blasters
  Graffiti Blasters is a program to eliminate graffiti, street art and gang-related vandalism in Chicago, Illinois. The program is structured as a privately owned business based in the city government...
  
  
• Mold remediation
• Sandblasting

External links

• http://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/maintenance/0404sodablaster/
• Soda Blasting