Central banks test ‘dry ice' banknote cleaning technology

The Central Bank of Indonesia will join the Bank of Mexico and two unnamed G-8 central banks this month in trying out a new technology for cleaning soiled banknotes that, according to the manufacturer, could prove a boon both to central banks' balance sheets and the environment.

Officials from the Indonesian central bank will visit Spectra Systems, a Rhode Island-based company, this week to evaluate a technology, known as Aeris, that uses ‘supercritical' carbon dioxide (CO2) – sometimes known as