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Wolftank-Adisa and the successful application of its DOPA® system on the European market

The transformation of tanks from single to double wall and the rehabilitation of double wall tanks date back to the times when the first regulations came up in some European countries, which requested higher environmental standards in terms of soil and groundwater protection at the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s. Already at those times, Wolftank-Adisa was among the first to introduce a solution to this problem developing the innovative DOPA® lining. Over the last 30 years, this system has figured out to be probably the most flexible to implement and the most long-lasting technology in the market. Therefore, Wolftank-Adisa has become the most global presence supplier of tank lining solutions.



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Nevertheless, the company strives continuously for innovations and has introduced important improvements over the years. These include the adaption to local regulations in different countries, the implementation of ethanol and methanol resistant lining systems, as well as the optimization of the installation process. And it has been this value, innovation, which has let Wolftank-Adisa to work all around the world, offering solutions totally adapted to local particularities.

The Scope of the Project

In this context, we have seen that demand for the lining solution called DOPA® has increased in many European countries during the last years.

Why do we see this demand? In countries like Germany, the tanks in gas stations have been well maintained over the years. The requirement to make a double wall rehabilitation or installation comes up when tanks go out of service due to alarms of leak detectors, or similar problems ― typically appearing in one or two tanks per station. Hence, customers need a solution which can be competitively installed under such conditions per project, in the shortest possible time, and without interrupting the stations service.

The Solution

It was essential to adapt properly the DOPA® system and especially the installation process to these specific requirements and, after working hard, it was achieved to implement the new version into the market: DOPA® 6 Lite.

In Germany, DRK 32 GmbH ― which was incorporated into the Wolftank-Adisa Holding AG in 2018 ― did pioneer work in this field supported by the global R&D team.

According to Hermann Niedermayer, CEO at DRK 32 GmbH, starting to  work with  DOPA® Lite was a good decision: “When we switched to the Wolftank Adisa DOPA® Lite product, we immediately realized that it works better than any solution we have seen before”.

DRK 32 also did an excellent job participating in numerous trade fairs and events, where the team presented and explained the benefits of the system. The most interesting for the customers and actually the two most important advantages are related to time and price: DOPA® 6 Lite is the quickest and the most economical way to create and/or rehabilitate a double wall system in a gas station.

But in addition, the new version offers all the previous advantages of the traditional system, as its functionality is identical to the classical installing process. The integrity of the first wall (tank shell) of the double wall system is verified and protected against further corrosion, as the second wall is made with the DOPA® system.

The DRK 32 team expertly managed the field pilots and first installations for DOPA® 6 Lite, and customers could prove directly how the new product version was indeed a perfect equivalent solution to the well-known DOPA® system.

The Outcome

After having successfully completed the pilot project due to the great sales commitment in Germany, a lot of follow-up orders have already been received. Undoubtedly, the new DOPA® has been deeply welcomed by the market, especially due to the short downtime and the high resistance to aggressive fuels such as E10.

As also confirmed by several of our customers and by public statistics, E-Mobility, LNG, and other new fuels have stopped the steady increase of the diesel demand in many countries. Therefore, traditional tank substitution to increase the storage capacity is not convenient or a competitive choice anymore to retrofits like DOPA® Lite, which -as said- can be installed without interrupting the stations operation.

As an example, one of our customers which had two tanks out of service for some years confirmed that, after DOPA® Lite installation, he could not only add one fuel grade to its sales progam, but also increase the refueling intervall of the tanks with the fuel truck from four to seven days. This is an existing result after a week maintenance operation at an open station without service interruption during this time.

In addition, the recent Covid19 infection risk and the low oil prices made oil companies especially careful before launching big gas station reconstruction projects. In many cases, DOPA® Lite seems to be a very interesting option also for this reason.

As of today, DOPA® 6 Lite is used in many European countries including Austria, Italy, France, United Kingdom, and Ireland. Currently we have promising requests from many other countries in Europe and not only on the implementation-side. We are therefore convinced, that this success story will continue!

For more information about DOPA® or DOPA® 6 Lite, please visit www.adisa.com.

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