Optimized Process Furnaces
Optimized Process Furnaces (OPF) is a privately held Kansas-based OEM founded in 1972 that designs, fabricates, and services custom direct-fired process heaters, waste heat recovery units, and emissions control systems for refineries, gas processing plants, petrochemical facilities, and offshore platforms.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1972
- HeadquartersChanute, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Optimized Process Furnaces does
Optimized Process Furnaces, Inc. (OPF) is a privately held, US-based industrial original equipment manufacturer founded in 1972 and headquartered in Chanute, Kansas. The company designs, fabricates, and services custom direct-fired process heaters and waste heat recovery units for the hydrocarbon processing industry, serving refineries, natural gas processing and LNG/GTL plants, petrochemical facilities, and offshore production platforms. OPF's product portfolio spans core fired heaters and waste heat recovery units, complemented by second-generation air preheat systems (94%+ thermal efficiency), and a full-stack emissions control family — Ultra-Low NOx burners (40–60% NOx reduction), Flue Gas Recirculation units (50–70%), and Selective Catalytic Reduction systems (up to 90%). Aftermarket revenue is generated through replacement parts, spare parts, field service for erection/start-up/commissioning/troubleshooting, revamps and upgrades, and project management services.
OPF generates revenue primarily through project-based, quote-driven custom equipment sales combined with aftermarket parts, field services, and revamp work. The company sells to enterprise customers via a regional and international sales representative network covering 11+ US territories and 5 international markets (Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Nigeria, Spain), with documented project deliveries in Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Nigeria, and Algeria. Named enterprise customers include ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Citgo, AMOCO, Diamond Shamrock, Sinclair, Texaco, and Procter & Gamble, with a cumulative base of more than 475 unique clients and 1,000+ projects since 1972. OPF's competitive positioning rests on over 250 years of cumulative staff engineering background, leadership on API committees, and a "extremely low backcharge-to-project cost ratio" supported by an internal Quality Assurance Manual. Pricing is project-specific and not publicly disclosed; the company operates with 11–50 employees and no external funding events, parent company, or M&A activity on record.
Optimized Process Furnaces firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Optimized Process Furnaces
- Legal name
- Optimized Process Furnaces, Inc.
- Website
- https://firedheater.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1972
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Optimized Process Furnaces (OPF) is a privately held Kansas-based OEM founded in 1972 that designs, fabricates, and services custom direct-fired process heaters, waste heat recovery units, and emissions control systems for refineries, gas processing plants, petrochemical facilities, and offshore platforms.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Optimized Process Furnaces industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Industrial Process Heating Equipment
- NAICS
- Industrial Process Furnace and Oven Manufacturing (333994), Power Boiler and Heat Exchanger Manufacturing (332410), Heating Equipment (except Warm Air Furnaces) Manufacturing (333414)
- SIC
- Industrial Process Furnaces & Ovens (3567), Heating Equipment, Except Electric & Warm Air Furnaces (3433), Fabricated Plate Work (Boiler Shops) (3443)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Boilers, Furnaces & Process Heating Equipment (IMAHAKAD)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Waste Heat Recovery & Heat Integration (HRSG/ORC, Pinch Analysis, Heat Exchangers) (EUABAJAF), Heat Transfer Equipment (Heat Exchangers, Boilers, Condensers) (IMAHAEAC), Industrial Boilers, HRSGs & Steam Generators (IMAHAFAF)
Keywords
Where Optimized Process Furnaces is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chanute
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Optimized Process Furnaces business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Custom Fired Heater Equipment: Design and manufacture of custom direct-fired heaters for hydrocarbon processing applications. Equipment ranges from simple regeneration gas heaters to delayed cokers and high pressure hydrotreater heaters. Revenue is project-based with long sales cycles involving engineering, design, fabrication, and installation.
- Waste Heat Recovery Systems: Custom-designed waste heat recovery units that capture thermal energy from combustion processes. Includes back-up firing systems and complete instrumentation for WHRU applications.
- Replacement Parts: Aftermarket replacement parts for fired heaters and process heating equipment including radiant section castings, convection section castings, finned tubes, coils, stacks, burners, and complete sections. Fast sourcing and fabrication through established supplier relationships.
- Field Services: Field consulting services for erection, start-up, commissioning, and troubleshooting of fired heating systems. Includes recommendations for repairs, replacements, and upgrades.
- Revamps and Upgrades: Upgrading, modifying, or repairing existing heaters to increase capacity and thermal efficiency, reduce emissions, extend working life, minimize shutdown periods, and decrease maintenance costs.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels2 records
Optimized Process Furnaces product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Optimized Process Furnaces (OPF) designs, fabricates, and services custom-engineered direct-fired process heaters for hydrocarbon processing facilities, including refinery, gas processing, and petrochemical applications ranging from simple regeneration gas heaters to delayed cokers and high-pressure hydrotreater heaters. The company also manufactures waste heat recovery units that capture thermal energy from combustion processes for reuse, and provides complementary emissions control systems, replacement parts, field services, revamps/upgrades, and project management.
Product overview
Optimized Process Furnaces (OPF) offers a portfolio of industrial process heating products and services centered on direct-fired heaters and waste heat recovery systems. The core product line includes Direct Fired Heaters (custom-designed for refinery, gas processing, and petrochemical applications) and Waste Heat Recovery Units (energy recovery heat exchangers). Supporting the core products are complementary add-on modules including Air Preheat Systems for efficiency improvement, and Emissions Control Systems comprising Low-NOx Burners, Flue Gas Recirculation Units, and Selective Catalytic Reduction Systems. OPF also provides Replacement Parts and Spare Parts for their equipment, along with Field Service, Revamps & Upgrades, and Project Management services. The company operates as a single unified offering rather than a modular platform architecture, combining engineering design, fabrication, and aftermarket support as an integrated equipment supplier.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Direct Fired Heaters Custom-designed direct-fired process heaters for refineries, gas processing, and petrochemical plants, ranging from simple regeneration gas heaters to delayed cokers and high-pressure hydrotreater heaters, supplied to enterprise hydrocarbon processing operators.
- Waste Heat Recovery Units (WHRU) Custom-designed energy recovery heat exchangers that capture waste heat from combustion processes, typically turbine exhaust, and reuse it in other processes, including back-up firing systems and complete instrumentation for offshore, onshore, and hydrocarbon processing applications.
- Air Preheat Systems Second-generation air preheat systems that capture hot flue gas from combustion to preheat incoming combustion air, improving heater efficiency and productivity, with installations achieving 94 percent or higher efficiencies.
- Low-NOx Burners Custom-designed burners that control fuel and air mixture to lower flame temperature and reduce oxygen concentration, delivering 40-60% NOx reduction without sacrificing combustion performance or increasing operating costs.
- Flue Gas Recirculation (FGR) Units Systems that recirculate external flue gas into the combustion air stream to lower peak flame temperature and cut thermal NOx formation by 50-70 percent.
- Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) Systems Post-combustion NOx control systems that use a chemical reaction to separate NOx into harmless nitrogen and water, achieving NOx reductions as high as 90 percent with low running and maintenance costs.
- Replacement Parts Aftermarket parts for fired heaters and process heating equipment, including radiant section castings, convection section castings, finned tubes, coils, replacement stacks, burners, and complete sections, with fast sourcing and fabrication through established supplier relationships.
- Spare Parts Aftermarket spare parts for fired heaters including tube support castings, tube and coil replacements, sight doors, burner and burner management parts, tubeskin thermocouples, and fan and blower parts.
- Field Service Complete field consulting services for erection, start-up, commissioning, and troubleshooting of fired heating systems, including installation supervision, repair recommendations, and design for revamps and retrofits, targeted at enterprise hydrocarbon processing operators.
- Revamps and Upgrades Engineering services to upgrade, modify, or repair existing fired heaters to increase capacity and thermal efficiency, reduce emissions, extend working life, minimize shutdown periods, and decrease maintenance costs, including convection section replacement, coil modification, metallurgy upgrades, low emission burner retrofits, air preheater installation/repair, NOx reduction systems, stack modifications, and waste heat recovery unit design and repair.
- Project Management Comprehensive project management from design through fabrication including mechanical design, planning and scheduling, material requisition, fabrication, and client liaison to coordinate delivery against contract specifications.
Quantifiable outcome
- Air preheat systems achieving 94 percent or higher thermal efficiency
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Optimized Process Furnaces
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Optimized Process Furnaces technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Optimized Process Furnaces partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered minor.
- Langley Systems, Inc.minorRegional sales representative covering Alabama. Contact: George Langley, Jr. Located in Birmingham, AL 35216.
- Kempker AssociatesminorRegional sales representative covering California. Located in La Habra, CA 90631. Contact: Jerry Kempker.
- Beabout Brock EasleyminorRegional sales representative covering Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah. Located in Littleton, CO with Eric Nova as outside sales contact.
- PAC SolutionsminorRegional sales representative covering Gulf Coast region. Located in Sugar Land, TX 77479. Contact: Brad Mease.
- Combustion Kinetics CorpminorRegional sales representative covering Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan. Located in St. Louis, MO 63122. Contact: Erik Dalgaard.
- Stone Process Equipment Co.minorRegional sales representative covering Ohio. Located in Copley, OH 44321. Contact: James L. Stone.
- Drewtec CompanyminorRegional sales representative covering Pennsylvania. Located in West Chester, PA 19382. Contact: Tom Polinski.
- Heartland Exchanger Solutions and ServicesminorInternational representative covering Canada (Alberta and British Columbia). Located in Fort Saskatchewan, AB T8L 3Y5. Contact: Garth Gawron.
- Delta T Heat ExchangersminorInternational representative covering Canada (Ontario). Located in London, ON N6H 5L7. Contact: David LaDouceur.
- Grupo HI S.A. de C.V.minorInternational representative covering Mexico. Located in Mexico City. Contact: Luis M. Sedeno.
- BDR Industrial ServicesminorInternational representative covering Egypt. Located in Free Zone, NASR City, Cairo, Egypt. Contact: Hussam Shaaban / Hazem Talaat.
- Saratoga Energy Resources Ltd.minorInternational representative covering Nigeria. Located in Lagos, Nigeria. Contact: Ademola Ajakaye.
- Ashburton International Supply SLminorInternational representative covering Spain. Located in Madrid, Spain. Contact: Luis Terreo.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Optimized Process Furnaces competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Thermax Limited: Thermax manufactures process heaters, boilers, and heat transfer equipment for refineries, petrochemicals, and industrial customers globally — broader portfolio but directly comparable fired heater products and international reach to OPF.
- Cleaver-Brooks: Cleaver-Brooks is a major North American manufacturer of industrial boilers and packaged burner systems serving commercial and industrial customers — broader portfolio but overlapping fired heating and emissions control technology with OPF.
- Hamon Group: Hamon designs and manufactures process heat transfer equipment including air-cooled condensers and waste heat recovery systems for power and industrial markets — overlaps with OPF's waste heat recovery product line.
Direct peers
- Econo-Therm Corporation: Econo-Therm designs and manufactures heat transfer equipment including waste heat recovery systems and fired heaters for the hydrocarbon processing industry — directly comparable to OPF and historically linked via OPF's founders.
- Zeeco: Zeeco designs and manufactures combustion equipment including process burners, flares, and thermal oxidizers for hydrocarbon processing — overlapping product portfolio (burners, emissions control) and customer base with OPF.
- API Basco: API Basco manufactures API 560 process fired heaters and process gas heaters serving refineries and petrochemical plants — directly comparable product offering and end markets to OPF.
- Borsig GmbH: Borsig provides process equipment including fired heaters, waste heat boilers, and pressure vessels for the hydrocarbon and chemical industries — directly comparable custom-engineered fired heater offering.
- John Zink (Koch-Glitsch): John Zink, a Koch-Glitsch business, supplies process burners, flares, and combustion systems to refineries and petrochemical plants — directly comparable in process heating and emissions control to OPF.
Market position
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Optimized Process Furnaces social profiles
Digital presenceOptimized Process Furnaces financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Optimized Process Furnaces leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Optimized Process Furnaces funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Optimized Process Furnaces M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Optimized Process Furnaces
What does Optimized Process Furnaces do?
Optimized Process Furnaces (OPF) designs, fabricates, and services custom-engineered direct-fired process heaters for hydrocarbon processing facilities, including refinery, gas processing, and petrochemical applications ranging from simple regeneration gas heaters to delayed cokers and high-pressure hydrotreater heaters. The company also manufactures waste heat recovery units that capture thermal energy from combustion processes for reuse, and provides complementary emissions control systems, replacement parts, field services, revamps/upgrades, and project management.
Is Optimized Process Furnaces a public or private company?
Optimized Process Furnaces is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Optimized Process Furnaces founded?
Optimized Process Furnaces was founded in 1972. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Optimized Process Furnaces based?
Optimized Process Furnaces is headquartered in Chanute, United States, in the North America region.
How does Optimized Process Furnaces make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Custom Fired Heater Equipment is the primary driver. The others are waste Heat Recovery Systems, replacement Parts, field Services and revamps and Upgrades.
Who are Optimized Process Furnaces's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Thermax Limited, Cleaver-Brooks and Hamon Group. Direct peers are Econo-Therm Corporation, Zeeco, API Basco, Borsig GmbH and John Zink (Koch-Glitsch).
Does Optimized Process Furnaces have an API?
No public API is recorded for Optimized Process Furnaces.
What industry is Optimized Process Furnaces in?
Optimized Process Furnaces's product category is Industrial Process Heating Equipment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMAHAKAD, Boilers, Furnaces & Process Heating Equipment, with a secondary code of EUABAJAF, Waste Heat Recovery & Heat Integration (HRSG/ORC, Pinch Analysis, Heat Exchangers). Its NAICS code is 333994 and its SIC code is 3567.