Lined Pipe in Augusta, GA
The Central Savannah River Area handles nitric acid on a scale few regions match. Along Columbia Nitrogen Road, Augusta's chemical row makes about 765,000 tons a year of ammonia and more than 700,000 tons of nitric acid. Add a sulfone polymer plant, a bleach plant on the river, a bleached paperboard mill, a fluorochemicals plant in North Augusta and a kaolin belt that bleaches clay in sulfuric acid, and you have a region that specifies lined pipe by habit. Marspec Technical Products fabricates it in Fairhope, Alabama, and ships it nationwide. Call (251) 625-4949.
Send an isometric, a valve list or a photo of the spool that failed and we will quote it, or contact us online.
Both banks of the river
Columbia Nitrogen Road
The nitrogen complex has made ammonia since 1964 and was expanded to 2,600 short tons a day. Downstream of ammonia, the nitric acid plant, the ammonium nitrate neutralizers and the urea and UAN units move 50 to 60 percent nitric acid, hot ammonium nitrate solution and UAN. Nitric acid and ammonium nitrate solution normally run in 304L stainless, which nitric acid keeps passive, and UAN in inhibited carbon steel; lined pipe fits the hot, contaminated or mixed streams, and among the liners, nitric acid takes PTFE, with PFA-lined valves. A sulfone polymer plant makes the sulfonated monomers behind polysulfone and polyphenylsulfone, chemistry that runs on oleum and sulfuric acid, chlorinated aromatics and caustic. A bleach plant on the river, on the site of a former mercury-cell chlor-alkali plant, ships sodium hypochlorite by rail and truck, and bulk bleach at 12.5 to 15 percent, with its free caustic, belongs in PTFE.
The paperboard mill, fluorochemicals and water
The bleached paperboard mill on the river is an integrated kraft mill, and its bleach plant runs chlorine dioxide, caustic extraction and peroxide stages. Chlorine dioxide solution, hot caustic extraction liquor and peroxide are PTFE-lined service, with lined diaphragm valves for control. Chlorine dioxide permeates the PTFE face of the diaphragm, so on those lines we supply the PTFE/FPM diaphragm, whose FPM backing resists it, rather than the standard PTFE/EPDM. Across the river, North Augusta has a fluorochemicals plant. Back on the Georgia side, the Highland Avenue water plant takes the Savannah River through the Augusta Canal and doses the coagulant, pH-control and disinfection chemicals a surface-water plant runs on, and those small-bore feed lines suit lined spools with lined diaphragm valves.
Aiken County and the kaolin belt
In Aiken County, two tire plants, a specialty glass fiber plant and a diaper and tissue plant at Beech Island with more than 2,000 employees run the utility chemistry every large plant does: demineralizer regeneration with sulfuric acid and caustic, cooling water treatment and wastewater neutralization. The kaolin belt along the fall line ships under 5 million metric tons of clay a year; mines in Warren County near Thomson feed the plant at Wrens, and Sandersville calls itself the kaolin capital of the world. Processing slurries the clay, then bleaches it by acidifying with sulfuric acid to about pH 3 and adding sodium hydrosulfite to dissolve the iron. Acidified slurry is abrasive and corrosive; in the bleach circuits, PVDF-lined spools kept within velocity limits, with lined diaphragm and plug valves, are an alternative to rubber-lined steel.
The Marspec line for the CSRA
Custom spools 1/2" through 12" and up to 20 ft, PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene lined, in carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housings, with matching fittings, are on our lined pipe and fittings page. Lined ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling valves are on our lined valves page, and strainers, expansion joints, spacers, blinds and sight glasses are under piping accessories. For nitric acid, sulfonation chemistry, chlorine dioxide, peroxide, caustic, coagulants and commercial hypochlorite we recommend PTFE-lined pipe and PFA-lined valves, with lined diaphragm valves or ball valves with a vented ball (vent facing upstream) on the hypochlorite and peroxide; for kaolin bleach, PVDF, which also suits dilute or on-site hypochlorite at pH 12 or below; polypropylene-lined spools are available for caustic and coagulant lines where a specification calls for them. Ammonium nitrate and UAN solutions and 50 percent caustic crystallize when they cool, so for outdoor racks we supply clamp-on steam heaters, electric tracing and heat-transfer compound from our temperature maintenance line. For jacketed or traced service, we recommend specifying PTFE.
Specifications, once
Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545. Fittings conform dimensionally to ANSI B16.5 and are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX, and every lined pipe spool and fitting is spark tested at a minimum of 10,000 volts. Liner temperature limits, liner thicknesses, flange dimensions and torque tables are on the technical details page, and more than half a century in plastic-lined piping is behind every spool.
Serving Augusta, Aiken and the river
Augusta, North Augusta, Aiken, Graniteville, Beech Island, Evans, Grovetown, Thomson, Waynesboro, Wrens and Sandersville all get custom spools from Fairhope, Alabama, built to field dimensions for outages. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online with the fluid and the size.
FAQ: Lined Pipe in Augusta, GA
Is PTFE-lined pipe suitable for the nitric acid made on Columbia Nitrogen Road?
Yes. PTFE and PFA are unaffected by nitric acid at the 50 to 60 percent strength a fertilizer plant makes and loads; 304L stainless also handles that acid, because nitric acid keeps it passive. Lined plug and sampling valves complete the loading rack.
Which lined products fit the bleach plant at the Augusta paperboard mill?
PTFE-lined spools for chlorine dioxide solution, hot caustic extraction liquor and peroxide, with lined diaphragm valves (the PTFE/FPM diaphragm on chlorine dioxide), supplied in carbon steel or stainless housings to the flange standard the mill already uses. We confirm concentration and temperature for each line and quote to drawings and specifications rather than guessing at service.
Which liner do you recommend for kaolin bleaching with sulfuric acid and sodium hydrosulfite?
PVDF for the acidified slurry, PTFE for the caustic-stabilized hydrosulfite feed and the dilute acid and dispersant lines, both in spools with lined diaphragm or plug valves that pass abrasive clay without a body cavity to pack.
Can you match an existing flanged lined system at a CSRA plant during a turnaround?
Yes. Our fittings conform dimensionally to ANSI B16.5 and we build spools to your face-to-face dimensions and flange drilling, so replacements drop into the run that is already there. Send the isometric or a tagged photo and we will quote it.