8 Multi-Burner Natural-Draft Process Heater Upgrades

The Profire Solution

Profire began with on-site evaluations to document each heater’s configuration, existing control gaps, field devices, and integration constraints. Those findings gave our field-engineering team the technical foundation to design a PF3100-based, API-aligned control architecture suited to Trecora’s natural-draft, multi-burner heater application.

To support technical alignment before implementation, Profire hosted Trecora’s engineering and operations teams at our Lindon, Utah facility. The visit gave Trecora a closer look at the proposed control platform, enclosure design, and panel manufacturing process before the system moved into deployment.

The solution was delivered as a turnkey modernization package, with Profire supporting the work from front-end technical advisement through commissioning and turnover.

Key elements included:

• Technical advisement & FEED support: Engineering and applications support helped align the system specification with API 556 guidance, site standards, operational constraints, and long-term modernization goals.
• PF3100-based system design: The burner management and controls architecture integrated with existing field devices, the plant DCS, and communication infrastructure. Hardware upgrades were targeted where they were needed to meet safety, performance, and visibility objectives.
• Control room visibility: Added I/O, data logging, and event logging gave operators better access to burner status, alarms, operating history, and performance trends from the control room.
• Installation & commissioning support: Profire supported installation, commissioning, system tuning, safety interlock verification, operator training, documentation, and post-commissioning technical support.
• Standardization path: The first eight-heater upgrade established a repeatable controls approach Trecora can apply to additional heaters across the site.

The Results:

The completed upgrade gave Trecora a comprehensive burner management and controls platform for its first 8 process heaters. Operators gained better visibility into burner status, alarms, events, and operating trends, reducing the guesswork that had made troubleshooting and recovery more difficult.

The solution also helped reduce day-to-day maintenance demands and operator callouts by replacing aging, manually intensive controls with a more consistent control architecture. For Trecora’s engineering team, the upgrade created a clearer API-aligned path for safety validation, plant integration, documentation, and future heater modernization.

By limiting hardware changes to what the application required, Profire helped Trecora modernize critical heater controls without forcing unnecessary disruption to the existing plant infrastructure. The result was a cost-conscious platform that lowered lifecycle burden on the upgraded heaters and established a practical path for standardizing the rest of the site.