Lined Pipe in Arkansas

Smackover brine in south Arkansas holds about 70 times the bromine of seawater, and a chemical industry has grown up around it. El Dorado refines sour crude and makes nitric and sulfuric acid. Mississippi County pickles sheet steel, and Ashdown bleaches kraft pulp. In Fairhope, Alabama, Marspec Technical Products lines steel pipe spools with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene, and supplies the fittings and valves that bolt to them. Call (251) 625-4949.

Our time in lined pipe runs past fifty years. Our Memphis page already covers the Crittenden County plants across the river from Memphis; this page covers the rest of Arkansas. Send a drawing, a line list or the tag off a failed spool through our contact page.

South Arkansas: brine, refining and nitrogen

Bromine and lithium

Bromine producers around Magnolia and El Dorado oxidize the bromide in Smackover brine with chlorine. They steam out the free bromine and convert it into bromine compounds. Wet bromine, chlorine and hot acidic brine attack nearly every metal. PTFE liners resist all three, but bromine and chlorine permeate PTFE, so these lines get vented housings. Polypropylene is not used on bromine, chlorine or any other oxidizer.

The same brine carries lithium. Direct lithium extraction handles hot chloride brine, hydrochloric acid, caustic and lithium chloride eluate, all of which must stay free of iron.

El Dorado

El Dorado's refinery runs about 80,000 barrels a day of sour crude and feedstocks, so spent caustic, sour water and amine come with it. The nitrogen plant in town makes sulfuric acid, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate and UAN. A commercial hazardous waste incinerator there runs quench and scrubber systems that handle hydrochloric acid and caustic.

Nitric acid and 98 percent sulfuric acid go in PTFE. PVDF is limited to sulfuric acid below roughly 93 percent at room temperature and to dilute nitric acid at moderate temperature. Polypropylene stays off nitric acid entirely.

Steel in Mississippi County

Nucor built the county's first steel mill at Blytheville in the 1980s. Its sheet mill at Hickman runs a specialty cold mill and a galvanizing line, and a scrap-fed flat-rolled mill runs at Osceola.

Before hot-rolled sheet can be cold rolled or galvanized, it is pickled in hydrochloric acid, and the spent liquor is regenerated or neutralized. PTFE in vented housings carries the hot acid and the regenerated acid coming back from the acid plant. PVDF works inside its 275 °F limit. Polypropylene, available where a specification calls for it, is held under about 150 °F in this service.

Kraft pulp and paperboard

Ashdown, pulping since 1968, makes fluff pulp and bleached softwood kraft. Pine Bluff makes liquid packaging board and cupstock, and Morrilton makes kraft linerboard.

Bleach plants generate chlorine dioxide from sodium chlorate and acid, then use it alongside caustic, peroxide and acidic filtrate. PTFE-lined pipe and lined diaphragm valves carry those streams. Polypropylene is never used on chlorine dioxide.

Food, power and water

Arkansas ranks first in rice and third in broilers. Its poultry and food plants run caustic and acid clean-in-place loops and sanitize with peracetic acid or hypochlorite. Power stations regenerate demineralizers with sulfuric acid and caustic. Water utilities from Little Rock to Northwest Arkansas feed hypochlorite or chlorine and coagulants, and full-strength hypochlorite belongs in PTFE.

What we supply for Arkansas

Our Fairhope shop builds lined spools in sizes 1/2" through 12" and lengths to 20 ft. Each has a carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housing and ANSI B16.5 flanges. PTFE lined fittings, carbon or stainless, are stock items; PVDF and polypropylene are lined to order. For most Arkansas service, our recommendation is PTFE.

• Swissfluid PFA- and PTFE-lined valves, stocked in Stafford, Texas, ship from Fairhope, Alabama, in ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling patterns, with automated packages built in house
• Spectacle blinds, mixing tees, lined strainers, sight flow indicators, PTFE expansion joints and spacers
• Clamp-on steam heaters, heat transfer compound and electric tracing for caustic and acid lines that crystallize or freeze in a north Arkansas winter
• Dip tubes, spargers and nozzle liners for lined reactors and tanks

Valve sizes differ by pattern; our lined valves page lists them. Liner temperature limits, liner thicknesses, flange dimensions and torque tables are on our Technical Details page.

Standards and testing

Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545. The lined fittings we supply are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX, and they conform dimensionally to ANSI B16.5. Every lined spool and fitting is spark tested at a minimum of 10,000 volts. Lined fittings carry identifying markings on their flanges in accordance with ASTM F1545.

Serving Arkansas

We ship spools to El Dorado, Magnolia, Smackover, Lewisville, Camden, Texarkana, Ashdown, Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Conway, Morrilton, Russellville, Fort Smith, Springdale, Jonesboro, Blytheville, Osceola, Stuttgart and Batesville. We quote a fabrication time with every order, so put your required date on the request. Call (251) 625-4949, or send the line list through our contact form.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Arkansas

Can lined pipe carry wet bromine at a Magnolia or El Dorado brine plant?

Yes, in PTFE, which resists wet bromine where nearly every metal fails. Bromine does permeate the liner, so we supply bromine spools with vented housings. Polypropylene is not suitable for bromine.

What liner do Mississippi County pickle lines use for hydrochloric acid?

PTFE in vented housings, for the hot pickle acid, the regenerated acid and the spent liquor. PVDF can serve below its 275 °F limit.

Which liners fit a Smackover direct lithium extraction plant?

PTFE for hydrochloric acid, caustic and hot brine, with vented housings on the acid. PVDF is an option on brine and lithium chloride eluate, but not on caustic above about pH 12.

Which liner goes on nitric acid at an El Dorado nitrogen plant?

PTFE, across the strengths and temperatures a nitric acid plant runs. PVDF suits weaker nitric acid at moderate temperatures, and polypropylene is never used on nitric acid.