Lined Pipe in Delaware

Delaware has been a chemical state since 1802, and it still has the highest concentration of chemists and chemical engineers in the country. Chemical manufacturing is the state's largest manufacturing industry, a refinery of well over 170,000 barrels a day sits at Delaware City, and poultry processing fills Sussex County with clean-in-place acid and caustic. Marspec Technical Products fabricates the PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined pipe spools and supplies the lined fittings and valves these operations use to move corrosive and high-purity fluids, with spools shipped from our shop in Fairhope, Alabama. Call (251) 625-4949 and tell us what the line carries.

Marspec has more than half a century in plastic-lined piping. Contact us online with an isometric, a photo of a failed spool or a simple sketch and we will quote it.

A small state with a big chemical footprint

The Delaware City refinery on the Delaware River is one of the most complex on the East Coast, running a full slate of conversion units to make gasoline, jet fuel and ultra-low sulfur diesel. That complexity brings sulfuric acid alkylation, caustic treating, amine regeneration, sour water stripping and a wastewater plant that neutralizes with acid and caustic, all of which are lined-pipe services where a PTFE liner in a carbon steel housing beats an alloy spool on cost and on life. A PVC resin plant in the same Delaware City industrial area handles vinyl chloride monomer, hydrochloric acid and caustic, and the generating stations along the river run demineralizer regeneration on sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide.

Chemicals and materials from Wilmington to New Castle

Chemical manufacturing produces more than a third of Delaware's manufacturing output. Crop protection chemistry is developed and made in the Wilmington area, with its chlorinated intermediates, solvents and acids. At New Castle, a 150 acre surfactant and emulsifier complex on the river runs ethoxylation and sulfonation chemistry, which means ethylene oxide, caustic, sulfur trioxide and sulfuric acid. In Newark, plants make chemical mechanical polishing slurries and pads for semiconductor fabs, where the slurry itself is abrasive and the peroxide, acid and high-purity water around it must stay free of metal contamination. PTFE and PVDF liners give the peroxide, acid and water lines the chemical resistance of a fluoropolymer with the strength of steel, and the abrasive slurry runs in PVDF within velocity limits.

Pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and poultry

Newark also hosts oral solid dose pharmaceutical manufacturing and a large diagnostics reagent plant, both of which depend on purified water, solvents and clean-in-place chemicals; the purified water runs in orbital-welded, electropolished 316L, and lined pipe carries the deionized utility water, solvents and chemicals around it, which cannot pick up iron from the pipe. Downstate, food processing accounts for roughly 29 percent of the state's industrial workforce, led by poultry plants at Georgetown, Millsboro, Selbyville, Milford and Harbeson. Those plants sanitize with caustic, acid cleaners, sodium hypochlorite and peracetic acid, and their wastewater systems dose ferric chloride, caustic and polymer. Municipal water and wastewater plants in Wilmington, Dover and the beach towns feed hypochlorite and corrosion inhibitors every day of the year. PTFE-lined pipe and PTFE-lined ball valves fit every one of those chemical feed lines; polypropylene-lined pipe is available for the caustic, ferric chloride and polymer lines where a specification calls for it, but not for hypochlorite or peracetic acid.

Lined pipe, valves and accessories for Delaware plants

We fabricate custom lined pipe spools and supply lined fittings in 1/2" through 12" sizes with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene liners, in carbon steel or 304 and 316 stainless housings, with straight spools up to 20 ft. Lined elbows, tees, reducers, crosses and laterals are built to the same liner and flange standard so the system is uniform end to end.

• PTFE-lined ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling valves, flanged to match the spools
• Lined strainers, lined expansion joints, PTFE spacers and spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe for the accessories around the spools
• Clamp-on steam heaters, electric tracing and heat-transfer compound for caustic and acid lines exposed to winter on the Delaware
• Vessel accessories, custom PTFE machining and fluoropolymer coating

Even in Delaware's mild winters, 50 percent caustic crystallizes in the mid fifties Fahrenheit and 93 percent sulfuric acid gets viscous enough to starve a metering pump. A traced or clamp-on heated lined spool solves that without the thermal stress of a jacketed line.

Quality you can write into the spec

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 is spark tested at a minimum of 10,000 volts before it leaves Fairhope, so a pinhole is caught before it reaches your refinery or your fab. Liner pressure, vacuum and temperature ratings are listed on our technical details page.

Wilmington to Selbyville

We ship lined piping to Wilmington, Newark, New Castle, Delaware City, Middletown, Dover, Milford, Seaford, Georgetown, Millsboro, Selbyville and Lewes. Custom spools are built to order in our own shop and go out by truck from Fairhope, Alabama. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online to get a quote.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Delaware

What lined products fit the Delaware City refinery's acid and caustic systems?

PTFE-lined spools, fittings, ball and plug valves for alkylation acid, spent caustic and amine service, plus lined strainers and spectacle blinds for isolation. PVDF is not used on the spent caustic or amine lines, since strong caustic and amines attack it, and on alkylation acid only below about 93 percent at ambient temperature.

Can lined pipe keep metal ions out of semiconductor slurry and high-purity lines in Newark?

Yes. PTFE and PVDF liners do not leach iron, nickel or chromium, which is why they are used for high-purity water, peroxide and acid distribution in electronic materials plants.

Is lined pipe worth it for CIP and wastewater chemicals at a Sussex County poultry plant?

For hypochlorite, peracetic acid, caustic and ferric chloride feed lines, PTFE-lined pipe with PTFE-lined ball valves outlasts carbon steel and most stainless at a lower cost than alloy. Where a specification calls for them, PVDF-lined pipe is available for the ferric chloride and dilute or lower-pH hypochlorite lines, and polypropylene-lined pipe for caustic and ferric chloride.

Do you ship lined pipe to Delaware directly?

We fabricate custom spools in our own shop in Fairhope, Alabama and ship them nationwide by truck. Send us the dimensions and service conditions and we will quote promptly.