The Ice Industry

Abstract

Few, indeed, think of the manufacture of ice as anything other than a purely mechanical operation. Yet there are many chemical angles involved of importance to a large number of readers of Chemical and Engineering News and these are discussed here . THE ice industry in the United States consists of almost 4,000 individual plants. Each year these plants produce over 34,000,000 tons of ice, 91% of which is produced from fresh water. The production of fresh water ice requires that the water used be potable as judged by the United States Treasury Department standards. In addition, the method of manufacture imposes certain limits to trie mineral content of the water to be frozen in order that salable ice be produced. Water which is highly mineralized causes unsightly, opaque blocks, the nature and extent of such opacities being dependent on the character of the mineralization, the temperature (rate) of freezing, and the effectiveness of the agitation of the water being frozen. ...