Midstream Oil & Gas

Process heating helps midstream operators treat, dehydrate, condition, fractionate, transport, and store natural gas, NGLs, and liquids, and manage vapors. In gas processing plants, that heat comes from hot oil and heat medium heaters, amine and NGL fractionation reboilers, and fuel gas heaters. Transmission and storage sites rely on station heaters, combustors, and flares.

In a gas processing plant, burner management systems are typically found on hot oil and heat medium heaters, TEG and amine reboilers, NGL fractionation reboilers, and fuel gas heaters. Compressor stations, transmission sites, and terminals add station heaters, combustors, ECDs, VDUs, and flares. Each needs controlled ignition, flame supervision, temperature control, and a safe shutdown path.

A single hot oil heater often supplies treating, dehydration, and fractionation at once, so one trip can affect several units. The heater also depends on thermal fluid moving through the coil. A burner management system proves flame, acts on low-flow and high-temperature shutdown inputs, and stops firing before a flow loss can overheat the coil or degrade the fluid. See the six-heater PF3100 upgrade.

Amine reboilers regenerate the solvent that strips H_₂S and CO_₂ from the gas, and fractionation reboilers drive separation in each NGL column. Too little heat leaves the product or solvent off spec. Too much, or uneven firing, can overheat tubes and degrade the amine. Whether the reboiler is direct-fired or heated by a hot oil system, stable burner control keeps it inside that window.

Combustion control holds heat input steady as plant throughput changes, which keeps reboiler and heat medium temperatures where treating and fractionation need them. It also drives fuel use and emissions. In one published midstream project, combustion upgrades on a forced draft TEG reboiler cut NOx from above 70 ppm to below 20 ppm and reduced natural gas use by 20 percent.

For plant and station equipment, the choice is usually between PF2200 and PF3100. PF2200 covers single burner, dual burner, and forced draft heaters that need deeper diagnostics and data logging. PF3100 handles multi-burner and multi-pilot heaters, fuel/air ratio control, and plant-integrated systems such as large hot oil heaters. Natural draft station heaters may also fit PF2150. Compare the controllers side by side.

Yes. Profire supports natural draft, forced draft, single-burner, dual-burner, and multi-burner Midstream applications. These systems may require advanced burner management, fuel delivery, air control, flame detection, communications, and commissioning support.

Yes. Profire burner management systems support Modbus communication with DCS, PLC, and SCADA systems, depending on the controller, configuration, and plant network. Operators can monitor burner status, first-out alarms, shutdowns, temperatures, and event history from the control room. Published midstream projects have paired PF3100 controllers with plant-wide controls integration and VFD feedback for fuel/air ratio control.

Profire supports midstream fired equipment such as hot oil and heat medium heaters, line and station heaters, glycol dehydrators and TEG reboilers, amine reboilers and gas treating heaters, NGL fractionation reboilers, fuel gas and conditioning heaters, combustors, ECDs and VDUs, and flares. At plant scale, controller selection usually turns on burner count, draft type, and how the heater ties into plant controls.