Resort Mavrovo quickly removed graffiti with environmentally friendly dry ice blasting

THE SITUATION

Resort Mavrovo is one of Macedonia’s longest established ski resorts and one of the most prestigious winter and summer sports destinations in North Macedonia. Hotel Bistra, Hotel Sport, and Hotel Lodge are part of Resort Mavrovo, together with the Ski and Sport Center Mavrovo.

Recently Resort Mavrovo engaged in a promotional commercial action by covering the monument in Staro Bacilo with graffiti. The work of the architect Radovan Radjenovic, which depicts a mosaic pedestal of the famous artist Gligor Chemerski, was marked with the words “Breathe Mavrovo”. While Resort Mavrovo first praised its activities, the defiling of a monument dedicated to anti-fascism angered architects, artists, and historical preservation experts.

THE PROBLEM

Resort Mavrovo was obliged to remove graffiti from the monument in 15 days. First, they considered mechanical cleaning. After investigating, they found that it requires a large work force and is very time consuming. Secondly, the use of chemicals in the cleaning process would generate environmental problems and may result in surface oxidation on the monument. As it is a historical monument they were searching for a solution that would be environmentally friendly and would not cause harm to the surface and the surrounding area.

They asked Ecotip, a modern and dynamic organization, active in the field of cleaning and maintaining ventilation systems for industries and households, to find the best solution to clean the monument.

THE SOLUTION

Ecotip’s intention was to use the most sophisticated cleaning solution to address this unique project. They suggested using dry ice blasting as the fastest and environmentally friendly solution.

Cold Jet’s dry ice cleaning systems use non-abrasive media in the form of recycled CO2 pellets that won’t damage surfaces or equipment. The combination of dry ice cleaning’s kinetic energy and thermal effects break the connection between the dirt and surface, lifting away contaminants. Unlike blasting with other media, dry ice cleaning does not leave any secondary waste, because the dry ice particles sublimate upon impact – converting from solid to gas. Dry ice cleaning is safe and non-toxic, does not create downstream contamination and reduces or eliminates operator exposure to dangerous chemical cleaning agents.

The Aero2 PCS 60 is the highest performing and most efficient dry ice blaster in Cold Jet’s portfolio. The machine features Cold Jet’s revolutionary Particle Control System™, which allows the user to cut standard dry ice pellets into dry ice particles from 3 mm to 0.3 mm and every size in between. The PCS 60 offers the performance of 28 different machines in one – from very powerful all the way to the most delicate cleaning applications. The PCS 60 is also very easy to use. With a 7” LCD color screen and digital controls, the user can easily view and adjust blasting parameters and machine settings. And with programmable and password protected application recipes, the user can stay in complete control and ensure they are always blasting with the most efficient settings for each individual application.

“The PCS 60 is very user friendly,” explained Ilija Andreevski from Ecotip. “All machine operators were successfully trained very quickly. The machine helps us to cut costs and allows us to take on more projects in a period of time. Depending on different projects we can use this machine to clean CNC machines, conveyors, transportation belts, housing of machines, and many other types of equipment.”

THE RESULTS

Using dry ice blasting technology helps to improve productivity and complete the project on time. Ecotip could shorten cleaning time by 40% while cleaning the historical monument of the Resort Mavrovo. Instead of five people, the cleaning work was done with two operators.

With the PCS 60, it is possible to clean more sensitive surfaces using 0.3 mm sized dry ice particles, which did not damage the surface of the monument. The use of dry ice also enabled Ecotip and Resort Mavrovo to implement an environmentally friendly cleaning process.

“With this method we saved almost 40% of cleaning time and the impact of the usage of chemicals was minimized”, said Ilija Andreevski from Ecotip Ltd.