Best-Tec Secures Patent for Revolutionary ICRALA Process
At Best-Tec, innovation is at the heart of everything we do, and 2025 has already proven to be a landmark year for us. We are thrilled to share a major achievements that underscore our commitment to revolutionizing corrosion control: securing a new patent for our groundbreaking ICRALA Process.
A Game-Changing Patent: The ICRALA Process
This patent describes a system for removing coatings from metal surfaces, including harmful materials, by using heat induction, lasers, and waste removal. It solves problems of traditional cleaning methods like loud noise, lots of waste, and expensive handling of dangerous materials. See Patent Here.
Our patented ICRALA Process (Induction Coating Removal and Laser Ablation) is a breakthrough in corrosion control. This hybrid system combines the precision of laser ablation with the efficiency of induction coating removal, setting a new standard for eco-friendly, cost-effective, and versatile corrosion management.
Precision & Efficiency: The ICRALA Process targets only corroded areas, preserving intact coatings and reducing project time.
Eco-Friendly: By eliminating the need for harsh chemicals, it minimizes environmental impact.
Cost-Effective: With reduced equipment, labor, and material requirements, it delivers significant savings.
Versatility: From bridges to industrial machinery, the ICRALA Process adapts to a wide range of applications.
Long-Term Protection: By addressing corrosion at its source, it extends the lifespan of assets.
This innovation is already making waves across industries, including oil & gas, marine, and industrial infrastructure. Learn more about the ICRALA Process here.
Honored at the 2025 AMPP Annual Conference
Vice President, Greg Kleinrichert Jr Interview during 2025 AMPP Annual Conference + Expo. (Full transcript at bottom of page)
Adding to the excitement, Best-Tec was recognized at the 2025 AMPP Annual Conference + Expo with the "MP Corrosion Innovation of the Year Award" for our ICRALA Process. This biennial award celebrates the most promising technologies in corrosion prevention and mitigation, and we are proud to be among the winners.
Rebecca A. Bickham, Editor-in-Chief of Materials Performance magazine, described the winners as representing "some of the most promising technologies in the industry today." With nearly 60 global nominations, the competition was fierce, making this recognition even more meaningful.
Looking Ahead
These milestones are a testament to the hard work, creativity, and dedication of the Best-Tec team. As we celebrate these achievements, we remain focused on pushing the boundaries of what's possible in corrosion control. Whether it's through innovative technologies like the ICRALA Process or our commitment to sustainability, we are excited to continue leading the way in protecting the world's critical infrastructure.
Thank you to our partners, clients, and the entire Best-Tec family for making this journey possible. Here's to a future of innovation and excellence!
Interview Transript:
R: Hi, everyone. I'm Rebecca Bickham, editor in chief with AMPP media. I'm here at the AMPP Annual Conference and Expo, being joined by Greg Kleinrichert, he's the vice president of Best-Tec. Thank you for being here today, Greg.
G: You're welcome. Thank you very much for having me.
R: Well, congratulations. You are an MP Corrosion Innovation of the Year award winner. Could you tell us a little bit about Best-Tec?
G: So Best-Tec is an environmental remediation company. It's been around for 38 years. Was founded by my father. We specialize in majority federal contracting and a lot of military applications. And that is what led us to the development of our new process for lead paint removal, which employs induction coating removal technology, followed by high powered laser ablation for final surface prep and recoding applications.
R: How can your induction coating removal and laser ablation process change maintenance for coatings?
G: So with our new process, it gives us the ability to do traditional corrosion control without the need of a traditional containment system. Our process employs point source capturing of all the fumes we generate as well as the media. So it allows us the ability to go in and target the critical areas that start corroding first, without the need of removing a lot of excessive paint that happens to be nearby it, that actually gets lumped into a lot of these projects. So with us, we can go in and do targeted corrosion control right at the source of where it is without overlapping and doing a bunch of unnecessary work at the same time. So it's a better use of the money, it’s spent doing the work where it is a problem.
R: Fantastic. So what are the benefits of using your process versus traditional methods for coating removal and service prep?
G: So our process, first off, without the containment it saves a lot of time with the initial setup. Also, when it comes to bridge projects and large infrastructure projects, there's a lot of the times there's road closures, lane closures, a lot of ancillary items that go on with noise and then requirements for different residences, you have certain work hours. Our process being much more quieter, much smaller, we're able to get in and do projects faster. So that also, with a smaller footprint reduces the amount of time that we're there, but also noise and allowing, you know, the flow of traffic and the overall process to be cleaner and more efficient, which ultimately saves the client money.
R: Well, thank you for sharing all that today. Is there anything else you'd like to share with our audience?
G: The one thing the laser ablation standard was recently published in August of last year. That has really paved the way for this process to start sprouting, you know, inside of the laser ablation standard, there's multiple different levels of remediation we can do for coatings. We can do partial coating removal, full coating removal, laser abrasion, you know, there's different levels inside of that that you can do. But for the project engineers, when they start studying this and they start looking at their individual projects, they will be able to design them differently to where they won't have as much remediation that needs to happen, of the paint, you know, and as well with the lead paint issue, if the bridge has a lot of corrosion or the structure has a lot of corrosion, the laser may not be able to actually fix that. But what we can do is go in and remove any hazard associated with the coating, and then allow hand tools or some other type of traditional methods to be employed outside of a containment. So, that is the real key with our process is getting outside of that containment, which reduces the overall burden of large scale projects.
R: Understood. Well, thank you for being here with us today, Greg. Again, I'm Rebecca Bickham with AMPP Media, joined by Greg Kleinrichert here at the AMPP Annual Conference and Expo. Thank you for joining us.