Lined Pipe in Arizona

Arizona mines about seven of every ten pounds of copper produced in the United States, and much of it is recovered by leaching ore with sulfuric acid and plating it out in electrowinning tankhouses. Add the wafer fabs rising in north Phoenix and Chandler and you have a state whose core industries live on acid, caustic and ultrapure water. Marspec Technical Products fabricates PTFE-, PVDF- or polypropylene-lined pipe spools and supplies the lined fittings and valves those fluids require, with spools shipping to Arizona from Fairhope, Alabama.

Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online with a drawing or a line list. After more than fifty years in plastic-lined piping we can usually quote from a sketch and a description of the service.

Where Arizona uses lined pipe

Copper leaching, solvent extraction and electrowinning

The porphyry copper operations at Morenci, Safford, Bagdad, Miami, Ray and Sierrita, together with the smelters at Miami and Hayden, make up the largest concentration of hydrometallurgical copper plants in the country. Heap and stockpile leaching drips dilute sulfuric acid over crushed ore. Pregnant leach solution flows to solvent extraction, where an organic extractant in kerosene diluent picks up the copper, and stripping with strong acid electrolyte sends it on to the electrowinning cells. The acid comes from the smelter acid plants and from sulfur burners at the mines, and the in-situ recovery project at Florence injects it straight into the ore body. Raffinate, electrolyte and acid headers in these circuits are a natural fit for lined pipe. PTFE liners are unaffected by sulfuric acid across the whole concentration range used in SX/EW, and they tolerate the organic phase that swells many elastomers. Lined plug and ball valves handle the isolation, and lined strainers protect the electrolyte pumps from crud.

Semiconductors and the chemical supply chain

Arizona has become one of the busiest semiconductor construction sites in the country. The fab complex in north Phoenix, the long-established fabs in Chandler and Tempe, and the suppliers filling in around Casa Grande and the West Valley, including a plant making electronic-grade hydrogen peroxide and TMAH developer, all depend on fluids that cannot touch bare steel. A large fab draws several million gallons of water a day, polishes it with reverse osmosis, ion exchange and electrodeionization, and reclaims most of it on site. Chemical distribution inside the fab moves hydrofluoric, sulfuric, nitric and phosphoric acids, ammonium hydroxide, peroxide and solvent waste. PVDF-lined pipe and PFA-lined diaphragm valves keep iron, chromium and nickel ions out of the high-purity loops, and PTFE-lined spools carry mixed acid waste to the neutralization plant in vented housings, because the HF in it permeates the liner.

Water, power, batteries and food

Phoenix, Tucson and the Pinal County towns treat enormous volumes of water: Colorado River water from the Central Arizona Project, salty groundwater and reclaimed effluent. Their plants dose sodium hypochlorite, ferric chloride and sulfuric acid, and the hypochlorite and ferric chloride pit stainless and chew through carbon steel. The Palo Verde nuclear plant west of Phoenix cools itself with treated wastewater from the Phoenix area and runs its own tertiary treatment and demineralized water systems. Battery cell manufacturing is coming online in Queen Creek, with electrolyte solvents and NMP recovery that favor PTFE. Dairy and produce processors in Maricopa, Pinal and Yuma counties cycle caustic and nitric acid through their CIP systems, and aerospace and defense plants in Tucson and Mesa run anodizing, chromate and pickling lines.

What we build for Arizona plants

• Custom lined spools to 20 ft, sizes 1/2" through 12", lined with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene in carbon steel or 304/316 stainless
• Lined elbows, tees, crosses, laterals, reducers, flanged spacers and instrument tees
• Lined valves: ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling, with PTFE or PFA liners
• Piping accessories: lined strainers, expansion joints, spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe
• Temperature maintenance: clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound

Two Arizona conditions deserve a word. First, summer sun on an outdoor rack can push a line well above ambient, and polypropylene loses pressure rating as it warms, so for hot outdoor acid or electrolyte lines we usually recommend PVDF or PTFE. Second, the mining districts sit at elevation and see hard winter nights, and a 50 percent caustic line or a stagnant electrolyte line will crystallize or freeze there. Electric tracing or a clamp-on steam heater under insulation keeps it flowing without exceeding the liner's temperature limit.

Standards behind every spool

Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545, and every fitting conforms dimensionally to ANSI B16.5. The lined fittings we supply are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX. Before any lined spool or fitting leaves the shop it passes a minimum 10,000-volt spark test of the liner, so a pinhole is caught before it reaches your leach pad or your fab. Liner thicknesses, vacuum ratings and temperature limits are listed on our technical details page.

Serving Phoenix, Tucson and the copper districts

We ship spools nationwide from Fairhope, Alabama, and Arizona orders travel the same route whether they are headed to Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe, Mesa, Casa Grande, Tucson, Sahuarita, Yuma, Morenci, Safford, Globe-Miami, Hayden, Bagdad or Kearny. Custom spools built to field dimensions are most of what we do, and a leaking acid header is the kind of job we quote from a sketch. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online and tell us the line size, the medium and the temperature.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Arizona

Which liner works best for sulfuric acid in an Arizona SX/EW circuit?

PTFE handles the dilute raffinate and the strong electrolyte used in solvent extraction and electrowinning, and it is what we recommend and quote: it is the safer choice where the organic extractant and diluent are present or where temperatures climb. PVDF, within velocity limits, suits lines with entrained solids that abrade softer liners, and polypropylene is available for the dilute, cooler lines where a specification calls for it.

Can your pipe serve ultrapure water and acid waste in a Phoenix or Chandler fab?

Yes. PVDF-lined pipe and PFA-lined diaphragm valves are standard choices for high-purity water and for hydrofluoric and mixed acid service, because the liners add no metal ions and the steel housing carries the pressure.

Do you supply lined pipe for sodium hypochlorite and ferric chloride at Arizona water plants?

We do. Both chemicals attack stainless steel, and PTFE-lined pipe with lined diaphragm or ball valves is a common specification for chemical feed lines at water and wastewater plants in Phoenix, Tucson and the Central Arizona Project service area.

How do we keep a caustic or electrolyte line from freezing at a high-desert mine?

Our temperature maintenance products include electric heat tracing, clamp-on steam heaters and heat-transfer compound that keep the line warm under insulation while staying within the liner's rating. Tell us the medium and the lowest ambient temperature and we will size it.