Doc. No. OM-101
Version 1.9: Jan. 16, 2009
23 (40)
DRY ICE CALCULATION
Set Tempe5°C
Dry Ice Quantity
Ambient temperatures from +10°C to +25°C, use wrapped dry ice
(
in Kilograms
)
Ambient temperatures from +25°C to +40°C, use unwrapped dry ice
Ambient Temperature
10°C
15°C
20°C
25°C
30°C
Hours
(50°F)
(59°F)
(68°F)
(77°F)
(86°F)
10
4
7
11
14
18
15
5
11
16
22
27
20
7
14
22
29
36
25
9
18
27
36
45
30
11
22
32
43
54
Calculation Example - Container Shipment
To calculate the amount of dry ice needed in a container, imagine that we have RKN container with
a 5°C temperature requirement with the transportation schedule noted below. Also assume dry ice
is used to precondition the container.
Activity
Time (Hrs)
Temp (
°
C)
Loading / truck to airport
2
20
Tarmac / aircraft loading
2
25
Flight time
8
15
Aircraft unloading
2
28
Warehouse at destination
11
23
Next, multiply the time and temperature of each activity ("product") and add the products of all the
activities to obtain the product sum. In this example the product sum is 519:
Activity
Time (Hrs)
Multiply Temp (
°
C) = Product
Loading / truck to airport
2
X
20
40
Tarmac / aircraft loading
2
X
25
50
Flight time
8
X
15
120
Aircraft unloading
2
X
28
56
Warehouse at destination
11
X
23
253
TOTAL TIME
25
PRODUCT SUM 519
Divide the product sum by total hours to determine the average ambient temperature:
519 / 25 =
20.7
°
C
From the appropriate dry ice table (excerpt below), locate the corresponding Temperature column
& Time row. In this example, 27 kg of wrapped dry ice is required to maintain the cargo temperature.
Referring to the container preconditioning example, an additional 13 kg is required to precondition
the container, so the total amount of dry ice required is 27 kg + 13 kg =
40 kg
.