Lined Pipe in Beaumont and Port Arthur, TX

Two of the four largest refineries in the United States sit within twenty miles of each other on the Sabine-Neches Waterway, and the Golden Triangle adds an oxides complex at Port Neches, synthetic rubber and methanol at Beaumont, the world's largest ethylene cracker under construction at Orange, and the busiest bulk-liquid waterway in the country tying it all together. Marspec Technical Products fabricates the PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined pipe spools and supplies the lined fittings and valves that carry alkylation acid, spent caustic, sulfonation oleum and amine through those plants. Call (251) 625-4949 and tell us what the line carries.

Our shop is in Fairhope, Alabama, a Gulf Coast neighbor with more than half a century of plastic-lined piping behind it. Email drawings or contact us online for a quote.

Three cities, one process corridor

The refineries

The biggest of Port Arthur's three refineries is the largest in the country at about 656,000 barrels a day by the latest federal count, and the Beaumont refinery upriver ranks fourth at about 612,000 after the crude unit it added in 2023. A second Port Arthur refinery runs about 385,000 barrels a day and a third about 238,000, the latter integrated with a steam cracker that turns ethane, propane, butane and naphtha into ethylene, propylene and butadiene, and with a newer one-million-ton ethane cracker feeding polyethylene in Pasadena. Between them, these four plants generate the full menu of refinery corrosion services: sulfuric acid to and spent acid from the alkylation units, caustic treating and spent caustic, sour water, lean and rich amine, acid and hypochlorite dosing at the cooling towers, and wastewater neutralization. PTFE- and PVDF-lined spools and PTFE-lined plug and ball valves replace the alloy, the rubber lining and the frequent re-pipes that carbon steel otherwise demands in those units.

Port Neches, Beaumont and Orange

The 3,000-acre oxides site at Port Neches is one of the largest ethylene oxide producers on the Gulf Coast, with ethylene glycol, propylene oxide, propylene glycol, ethanolamines, surfactants and MTBE downstream. Surfactant sulfation runs on sulfur trioxide and oleum followed by caustic neutralization, glycol and amine purification pulls vacuum, and MTBE and oxide units handle acid catalysts and caustic washes, all of which is lined-pipe service. Beaumont adds a synthetic rubber plant south of town, where polymer is coagulated with brine and acid, and a methanol plant of about 1.75 million tons a year beside an older methanol and ammonia complex, where amine and caustic carbon dioxide removal and demineralized water systems are the corrosion points. Across the Neches at Orange, a 2.08-million-ton ethane cracker with two polyethylene units totaling two million tons a year is being built on the Sabine: a new caustic wash tower, spent caustic oxidation unit and wastewater plant that will need lined pipe from day one.

Terminals and LNG on the Sabine-Neches Waterway

The waterway is the third busiest in the United States by tonnage and the top bulk-liquid waterway, being deepened from 40 to 48 feet. The Nederland terminal between Beaumont and Port Arthur holds about 33 million barrels in 84 tanks and exports roughly 700,000 barrels a day of ethane, propane and other liquids, and the Port of Beaumont sits at the head of navigation. At the mouth, Golden Pass at Sabine Pass has produced its first LNG and Port Arthur LNG is under construction. Terminals and liquefaction trains do not use lined pipe in the cryogenic or crude service itself, but their amine treating, caustic, chemical injection, demineralized water and wastewater systems do, and those are the spools we build and the lined diaphragm valves we supply.

Lined piping for Golden Triangle services

We fabricate custom lined pipe spools and supply lined fittings from 1/2" through 12" in PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene, inside carbon steel or 304 and 316 stainless housings, to your isometrics and up to 20 ft per piece. Matching that to the services above:

• Alkylation acid, spent acid and sulfation oleum: PTFE-lined spools with PTFE-lined plug valves and lined sight glasses; PVDF only for acid below about 93 percent at ambient temperature
• Spent caustic, amine and caustic wash: PTFE-lined spools, lined ball valves and lined strainers
• Vacuum stripping and purification: full-vacuum-rated PTFE liners with PTFE spacers and spectacle blinds
• Hot caustic and viscous surfactant lines: clamp-on steam heaters, electric tracing and heat-transfer compound on the lined spool
• Sampling, check and butterfly valves, expansion joints and solid PTFE pipe for the rest of the system

Specifications we build to

Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545, and the fittings conform dimensionally to ANSI B16.5 and are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX. Every lined pipe spool and fitting passes a minimum 10,000-volt spark test before it ships. Liner pressure, vacuum and temperature limits are listed on our technical details page.

Serving Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange and the Neches towns

We supply plants in Beaumont, Port Arthur, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves, Orange, Vidor, Bridge City, Sabine Pass and Mauriceville, with custom spools fabricated in our own shop and shipped from Fairhope, Alabama. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online for a quote on a single replacement spool or a full turnaround package.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Beaumont and Port Arthur, TX

Can you build spools for a Port Arthur or Beaumont refinery turnaround to our isometrics and flange standards?

Yes. We fabricate to your isometrics with ANSI B16.5 flange dimensions, spark test each spool and ship the package from Fairhope ahead of the outage, and we turn quick replacements for spools discovered corroded once the unit is open.

Which liner handles the oleum and sulfur trioxide sulfation lines at the Port Neches oxides complex?

PTFE is the usual choice for oleum and concentrated sulfuric acid at sulfation temperatures, with PVDF for dilute acid and PTFE again for the caustic neutralization downstream, since strong caustic attacks PVDF. We confirm concentration and temperature before quoting.

Will your lined pipe mate with the flanged lined systems already installed along the Sabine-Neches Waterway?

It will. Lined pipe and fittings built to ASTM F1545 with B16.5 flange dimensions interchange at the flange, so our spools and lined valves bolt into existing lined headers without adapters.

Do you supply the amine and chemical-feed piping at Golden Pass, Port Arthur LNG or the Nederland terminal?

We supply lined spools, fittings and lined diaphragm valves for amine, caustic, demineralized water and chemical injection service at terminals and liquefaction plants, built to the project isometrics.