Posted on 31 July 2017

Innovation to keep up with the transformation of the refining market

LA HARPE D’OR, with its subsidiary WINTECH Global, is committed to the continuous development of technology through major research and development efforts in the field of innovative applications « to produce more, cleaner and safer. »

In particular, with regard to the Oil Refining domain, LA HARPE D’OR does count 3 innovations to its credit.

These innovations, being part of an overall strategic approach designed to accompany the evolution of the oil crude market, are particularly applicable to the Crude Distillation Units whilst providing concrete solutions to the refiners:

WINTicare™ (International patent): online monitoring tool to determine the “settling-rate” of water-oil mixtures and position of corresponding interfaces in desalting separators. This qualification under real-life conditions is of greatest importance, not only to integrate all key parameters influencing the wash water-oil separation, but also to react to the inevitable variations in crude oil characteristics over time.

CRYSTAL-Guard (International patent): eco-friendly technology to protect petroleum refinery equipment against Naphthenic Acid Corrosion. CRYSTAL-Guard™, a new High Temperature Corrosion Inhibitor, offers a real perspective to refineries and the opportunity to improve their profit margins by accepting any kind of High-TAN crude oils without fearing equipment deterioration. CRYSTAL-Guard™ offers an exceptional protection with no fouling, no plugging and no catalyst impairment in downstream units (e.g. HDT).

 SalTraP™ (protected by an International patent application): Distillation Unit design particularly suited to petroleum for which desalting is difficult and to heavy/opportunity crudes. Brand-new technology which makes it possible to eliminate the risk of accidents in Distillation Units by avoiding the detrimental effect of extremely corrosive salts that can lead to operational issues and/or accidents with risk of fire.

LA HARPE D’OR envisages partnerships with companies of international scope to deploy these solutions on a global scale.