TOPGUARD overhead corrosion control

Capture the full profit potential of opportunity crudes while protecting the long-term operability of your crude unit tower overhead with TOPGUARD™ overhead corrosion control programs from Baker Hughes.

Our comprehensive corrosion prediction and control programs help minimize the impact of challenging crude blends on your units by defining the root cause of corrosion, establishing workable mitigation strategies, and providing ongoing monitoring and optimization.

Get to the root cause of your corrosion challenges

TOPGUARD overhead corrosion control programs deliver a start-to-finish approach to mitigating the corrosion challenges of opportunity crudes.

It begins with a detailed root cause analysis to define the problem. On-site unit surveys analyze your entire crude processing operations, including:

• Process systems and piping
• Deposits
• Metallurgy
• Historical data
• Feedstock variations
• System temperatures and pressures
• Slop-oil recycling
• Seasonal changes to operations

The information gathered is then put into the proprietary TOPGUARD Ionic Model, a process simulation-based technology specifically designed to address overhead system corrosion. Unlike conventional corrosion control programs, the model is a comprehensive and robust simulation technology that provides critical insight into the phase behavior that leads to corrosion.

Using our proprietary thermodynamic database and more than 20 years of application experience, our refining experts use the TOPGUARD Ionic Model to predict specific outcomes for your refinery, your crude blends, and your operating conditions, including:

• Determine potential causes of corrosion and the specific conditions and locations under which it will occur
• Evaluate potential mitigation options, including optimal operating conditions, customized neutralizers, maximum allowable contaminant limits, and water wash requirements
• Predict the impact of changes to give you advanced knowledge of the effects of variations in crude slates, operating conditions, contaminant levels, and water wash rates

Get an informed strategy for corrosion control

Using the insights gained from the ionic model, we work with you to implement solutions that minimize your unit’s increased corrosion potential. Our TOPGUARD corrosion inhibitors and neutralizers, coupled with strategies to reduce contaminant levels and modify process conditions, give you a total corrosion control solution to manage even your most difficult corrosion challenges for the long term.

In addition to standard day-to-day support, TOPGUARD overhead corrosion control programs also deliver an on-site monitoring system customized to your refinery. This system provides on-demand evaluation of corrosion risk as unit conditions change, as well as immediate on-site corrosion control answers for any issues that arise.