Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Dry Ice

K12Chemistry - 23-3-2013 at 13:34

Anyone know how I can get dry ice in the UK??

Thinking of making it with liquid difluoroethane from canned air?

Is this possible?

sbbspartan - 23-3-2013 at 14:02

I'm not sure about the U.K., but in the U.S. I found a hunting/fishing store that sold it for ~$2.00 a pound for freezing meat. There is another company I found downtown that sells it (I think they are a welding store) for fairly cheap. They just break it off a much bigger chunk they have. Some people have also had luck in some grocery stores.

You could also try to find an old CO2 based fire extinguisher, and spray it into a pillow case to make your own dry ice.

You should be able to find plenty of stores near you fairly easily. A google search for "Dry Ice Vendors" in your area would help a lot.

Mailinmypocket - 23-3-2013 at 14:50

I buy dry ice from packaged gas distributors in my city, there is Praxair, BOC gases, Lindh and Air Liquide. Search and see if they have stores near you and call them up!

IrC - 25-3-2013 at 15:19

Virtually every grocery store in the US has dry ice in freezers for around $1/pound. Even most small local ones. Surprised you never tried there before. I do not see why UK stores would not stock it similarly. Such a common item for parties (think Halloween), also great for temporarily saving stored food in your deep freeze during times of power outage.

elementcollector1 - 25-3-2013 at 16:59

A pillow case?
I've seen dry ice for sale in the nearby cities, but not the one where I live. Ah well - I'd only need it for liquefying chlorine anyway.

Mailinmypocket - 26-3-2013 at 05:47

I find it weird how dry ice is sold in grocery stores in the US... Here in Canada I have never seen that before and it seemingly can only be bought from gas companies. Maybe that's because most of the time the temperature outside is dry ice cold anyways? :P

It would seriously be so convenient to get it in grocery stores and the like.

woelen - 26-3-2013 at 05:56

Quote: Originally posted by IrC  
Virtually every grocery store in the US has dry ice in freezers for around $1/pound. Even most small local ones. Surprised you never tried there before. I do not see why UK stores would not stock it similarly. Such a common item for parties (think Halloween), also great for temporarily saving stored food in your deep freeze during times of power outage.
This is a great thing in the USA. For me, dry ice is nearly impossible to obtain. I have so many things which I would like to try, such as making the salt K[N(NO2)2] from white fuming nitric acid and sulphamic acid, doing experiments with liquid Cl2, performing experiments in solvents like SO2 and NH3. None of these are possible for me, because I have no (affordable) source of dry ice. Dry ice is not a common item where I live, it only is used by professionals, not by private persons and hence it is not common at all. Funny to see the big differences between countries.

hissingnoise - 26-3-2013 at 06:07

This may be of some interest . . . ?

Steve_hi - 26-3-2013 at 06:22
Quote:

This is a great thing in the USA. For me, dry ice is nearly impossible to obtain.


Canada
When I was a kid guys would pick it up at the grocery store and bring it to school

now it's disapeared

Mercedesbenzene - 26-3-2013 at 07:54

Not sure if you live near a university, but in many molecular biology labs they have many of the supplies shipped on dry ice and just let it evaporate after they get the package. You might be able to call them up and pick up some dry ice now and then for experiments. I have done this before at my university, the amount of dry ice seemed to vary from 0.5-4 kG.

MrHomeScientist - 26-3-2013 at 10:54

Dippin Dots, if you have any near you, have their ice cream sent in dry ice and also just let it sublimate. One of their cart vendors offered to let me have some blocks if I drove to their store, which I have yet to take them up on. So food packing might be another source. I am lucky in that my area has it available in all the grocery stores. I think because there is an active fishing and hunting population where I am.

IrC - 26-3-2013 at 11:19

Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
Dippin Dots, if you have any near you, have their ice cream sent in dry ice and also just let it sublimate. One of their cart vendors offered to let me have some blocks if I drove to their store, which I have yet to take them up on. So food packing might be another source. I am lucky in that my area has it available in all the grocery stores. I think because there is an active fishing and hunting population where I am.


Yeah they have me wondering now. In my 60 years I cannot ever recall any grocery that did not sell it. I have lived in a dozen states, they all do. Even in Arizona where there is not much fishing and little hunting unless you like diseased Jackrabbits you can buy dry ice everywhere. Now you have me wondering why this has always been so. They never seem to sell all that much, I do not recall ever seeing anyone in line for it. Why is it so rare in other countries and yet so common here?

Endimion17 - 26-3-2013 at 14:37

Quote: Originally posted by IrC  
Quote: Originally posted by MrHomeScientist  
Dippin Dots, if you have any near you, have their ice cream sent in dry ice and also just let it sublimate. One of their cart vendors offered to let me have some blocks if I drove to their store, which I have yet to take them up on. So food packing might be another source. I am lucky in that my area has it available in all the grocery stores. I think because there is an active fishing and hunting population where I am.


Yeah they have me wondering now. In my 60 years I cannot ever recall any grocery that did not sell it. I have lived in a dozen states, they all do. Even in Arizona where there is not much fishing and little hunting unless you like diseased Jackrabbits you can buy dry ice everywhere. Now you have me wondering why this has always been so. They never seem to sell all that much, I do not recall ever seeing anyone in line for it. Why is it so rare in other countries and yet so common here?



I was wondering why, too. Dry ice is not neccessary, it's not like any household suffers without it. Regular ice does its job fine enough.

I guess it's one of those things that happened overnight in a rich country, and somehow got caught along the way... I'm almost sure it was created (as a household commodity) as a fad, but stucked forever.

Magpie - 26-3-2013 at 15:13

In my community I could only get it at a specialty outlet up until a few years ago. Now it seems that many large grocery stores have it. They keep it in a locked freezer, but it is available to anyone.

I believe it is more or less a by-product of the fractional distillation of air for N2, O2, and Argon. I see it being carried around in trucks to serve the fast food beverage industry, taverns, etc. That would be liquid CO2 I guess.

======================================

Also if there is an ammonia plant in the vicinity they may well have a huge amount of by-product CO2:

CH4 + 2H20 ---> 4H2 + CO2

N2 + 3H2 ----> 2NH3

[Edited on 27-3-2013 by Magpie]

[Edited on 27-3-2013 by Magpie]

zed - 26-3-2013 at 16:38

Well, you gotta have it, if you want to make carbonated ice cream.

http://www.eskimo-ice.co.uk/DryIce/


Maybe these guys can give you some leads.


[Edited on 27-3-2013 by zed]