Lined Pipe in Corpus Christi, TX

Corpus Christi ships more crude oil out of the country than any other port in the United States, and the refineries, crackers, chlor-alkali cells and steel mill behind the docks are where the lined pipe goes. Marspec Technical Products fabricates PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined pipe spools and supplies the lined fittings and valves for the acid, caustic, chlorine and brine services of the Coastal Bend, from Refinery Row on the Inner Harbor to the plants across the bay in San Patricio County. Call (251) 625-4949 with the line list and we will quote it.

We are a Gulf Coast neighbor in Fairhope, Alabama, with more than half a century of plastic-lined piping behind us, and we ship nationwide. Send a line list or isometrics when you contact us online.

Where lined pipe goes in the Coastal Bend

Refinery Row and the Inner Harbor

The Inner Harbor runs west from the Harbor Bridge past three refineries, two condensate splitters and a line of crude and product terminals. The refineries total well over 800,000 barrels a day: one at about 290,000, a two-plant complex at roughly 290,000 and 87,500, and a third at about 165,000. The channel is 54 feet deep and 530 feet wide after a $625 million improvement project, which is why Suezmax tankers load full here and roughly 60 percent of American crude exports leave through this port. Refinery alkylation acid, spent caustic, sour water, amine, cooling tower acid and hypochlorite feed, and wastewater neutralization are the services lined spools and PFA-lined plug and ball valves were built for, with lined diaphragm valves or vented-ball valves (vent facing upstream) on the hypochlorite. Northwest of the harbor, an olefins plant makes ethylene and propylene, with its own caustic wash and quench water systems.

San Patricio County: Gregory, Portland and Ingleside

The north shore of Corpus Christi Bay has become the second industrial corridor. At Gregory, a 1,350-acre complex pairs a 1.8-million-ton ethane cracker with two polyethylene units totaling 1.3 million tons and a 1.1-million-ton monoethylene glycol unit. Next door, the Corpus Christi LNG terminal on the La Quinta Channel liquefies natural gas for export. At Ingleside, a chlor-alkali complex sits beside a 550,000-ton ethylene cracker that feeds the vinyls chain, and the former naval station has become one of the largest crude export terminals in the country. Portland adds a hot-briquetted iron plant. The media run from brine, wet chlorine, caustic and hypochlorite at the cell room to spent caustic and quench water at the crackers, glycol under vacuum at the MEG unit, and amine, caustic and demineralized water at the liquefaction trains, many of them a reason to specify lined pipe over alloy.

Sinton steel and the water question

Farther inland at Sinton, a three-million-ton flat-rolled steel mill runs a pickling line rated at more than a million tons a year ahead of its cold mill, plus galvanizing and paint lines. Pickling means hot hydrochloric acid, iron chloride rinse water and fume scrubbers; galvanizing means zinc ammonium chloride flux and caustic cleaning; PTFE- and PVDF-lined spools with lined plug valves hold up where rubber-lined pipe does not. The whole region also faces a water problem. Long droughts keep water supply an open question in Corpus Christi, and every option, from seawater desalination to groundwater imports and wastewater reuse, is a chemical-feed project: sodium hypochlorite, ferric coagulant, sulfuric acid, antiscalant and membrane-cleaning caustic and citric acid, all suited to lined pipe and lined diaphragm valves.

Spools, valves and accessories for Coastal Bend plants

Custom lined pipe spools and fittings in 1/2" through 12", lined with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene in carbon steel or 304 and 316 stainless housings, up to 20 ft, fabricated to your isometrics. Lined elbows, tees, reducers and laterals ship with them.

We supply PFA-lined ball, plug, diaphragm, check and sampling valves and PTFE-lined butterfly valves, plus lined strainers, expansion joints, PTFE spacers, spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe. Sizes vary by pattern: ball valves 1/2" through 10", plug valves 1/2" through 6", diaphragm valves 1/2" through 8", butterfly valves 1" through 42", ball check and sampling valves 1/2" through 6", and swing check valves 1-1/2" through 24". For the 50 percent caustic that crystallizes in the mid 50s F on a Coastal Bend norther, and for viscous or crystallizing process streams, we add clamp-on steam heaters, electric tracing and heat-transfer compound to the lined spool. For jacketed or traced service, we recommend specifying PTFE.

Built to the standards your spec calls for

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. Every lined pipe spool and fitting gets a minimum 10,000-volt spark test before it leaves Fairhope. Liner temperature limits, liner thicknesses, flange dimensions and torque tables are on our technical details page.

Serving Corpus Christi, Portland, Ingleside and Sinton

We ship lined piping to Corpus Christi, Portland, Gregory, Ingleside, Taft, Sinton, Robstown, Aransas Pass and Rockport. Whether it is one replacement spool on a pickling line or a full spool and valve package for a Refinery Row turnaround, call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online for a quote.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Corpus Christi, TX

Can you fabricate turnaround spools for the Refinery Row plants to our isometrics?

Yes. Send the spool list and isometrics once the scope is set and we will fabricate to your flange standard, spark test every spool and ship the spools from Fairhope before the outage, with replacements for spools found corroded during the work.

Which liner suits the hydrochloric acid pickling line at the Sinton steel mill?

PTFE handles HCl across the pickling temperature range and is what we recommend and quote; PVDF is an option on cooler, dilute acid and rinse return lines, and polypropylene is available for acid below about 150 °F (66 °C) where a specification calls for it. Any of them in a carbon steel housing avoids the alloy and rubber-lining upkeep those lines otherwise demand.

Will your lined pipe bolt up to the flanged lined systems already installed at the Ingleside chlor-alkali and cracker complex?

It will. Lined pipe and fittings built to ASTM F1545 with ANSI B16.5 flange dimensions interchange at the flange, so our PTFE-lined spools and lined valves fit existing brine, chlorine, caustic and hypochlorite headers without adapters.

Do you supply lined pipe for Corpus Christi water projects such as desalination or reuse?

We do. Hypochlorite, ferric coagulant, sulfuric acid, antiscalant and membrane-cleaning chemical feed lines are a good fit for PTFE-lined spools with lined diaphragm valves, whichever supply option the region builds.