Lined Pipe in Florida

Florida's process industry starts in the ground in Polk County and ends at the fertilizer docks on Tampa Bay, and nearly every step in between runs on acid! Marspec Technical Products fabricates PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined steel pipe spools and fittings, and supplies lined valves and piping accessories, for the plants that handle it. Call 251-625-4949 or contact us online for a quote.

We are a Gulf Coast company, based in Fairhope, Alabama, with more than half a century in plastic-lined piping, and we ship to Florida plants from Fernandina Beach to the sugar country south of Lake Okeechobee. This page is about the peninsula; the Panhandle has a page of its own.

Where Florida puts lined pipe to work

Bone Valley phosphate and phosphoric acid

Florida mines roughly two-thirds of the phosphate rock produced in the United States, almost all of it from the Bone Valley district centered on Polk County and reaching into Hillsborough, Hardee and Manatee counties. The chemical plants at Bartow, New Wales near Mulberry and Riverview react that rock with sulfuric acid to make wet-process phosphoric acid, then ammoniate it into diammonium and monoammonium phosphate. The piping around those units sees 93 and 98 percent sulfuric acid, 28 to 54 percent phosphoric acid carrying fluoride and silica, fluosilicic acid recovered from the scrubbers, and gypsum slurry headed to the stack. Phosphoric acid with free hydrofluoric acid in it rules out glass and most alloys, so PTFE-lined and PVDF-lined pipe, with PTFE-lined plug and ball valves, is the normal specification for acid transfer, evaporator feed and fluosilicic acid loading.

Tampa Bay fertilizer, sulfur and ammonia

The acid plants burn molten sulfur that arrives by rail and ship through terminals on Tampa Bay, Florida's largest port by tonnage, and the finished fertilizer leaves the same way. Molten sulfur lines run at 250 to 300 F and solidify the moment they cool, which is exactly where our jacketed lined pipe, clamp-on steam heaters and heat-transfer compound earn their keep. The anhydrous ammonia and sulfuric acid terminals along the bay add two more media that carbon steel tolerates only until the first trace of moisture shows up. Next door at Apollo Beach, the largest seawater desalination plant in North America treats up to 25 million gallons a day with sulfuric acid, sodium hypochlorite, ferric coagulant and caustic, all of it in lined or plastic piping.

Pulp, cellulose, citrus and sugar

Northeast Florida's mills at Fernandina Beach and Palatka make high-purity cellulose, lignin products, linerboard and tissue, and their bleach plants and recovery areas handle chlorine dioxide, sodium chlorate, caustic, sulfuric acid, peroxide and hot black liquor. Along the Ridge in Polk and Highlands counties, and at Bradenton and Fort Pierce, Florida's juice processors make the state the second-largest orange juice producer in the world; their clean-in-place systems cycle caustic and nitric or phosphoric acid, and their peel-oil streams carry d-limonene, a solvent that softens rubber and many plastics but leaves PTFE alone. South of Lake Okeechobee, the mills and refineries at Clewiston, Belle Glade and South Bay process the largest cane crop in the country with lime slurry, sulfur dioxide, phosphoric acid, and hydrochloric acid and caustic for evaporator boil-outs.

Add the state's water and power infrastructure: brackish-water reverse osmosis and lime-softening plants across the peninsula dosing hypochlorite, ferric chloride, sulfuric acid and fluorosilicic acid, and generating stations from Jacksonville to Miami running demineralized water trains and flue gas scrubbers. Each has a chemical feed room where lined pipe and lined diaphragm valves end a cycle of corroded steel.

What we ship into Florida

Custom lined pipe spools and fittings in 1/2" through 12" sizes, carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housings, with PTFE liners for acid, caustic, brine, hypochlorite and solvent service, PVDF where abrasion resistance and purity matter, and polypropylene where a specification calls for it. Spools are built to your drawings in lengths up to 20 ft, with matching elbows, tees, crosses, laterals, reducers and instrument tees.

Lined valves in the same sizes: PTFE- and PFA-lined ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling valves for phosphoric and sulfuric acid, hypochlorite and chlorine dioxide shutoff and sampling. Our piping accessories include lined strainers, expansion joints for thermal movement on sulfur and acid lines, spacers, spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe, and our temperature maintenance products cover jacketing, clamp-on steam heating and electric tracing for molten sulfur, 50 percent caustic and molasses.

Liner thickness tables, flange details and bolt torque recommendations for lined flanges are on our Technical Details page.

One standard, every part

Our lined products comply with ASTM F1545, and fittings conform dimensionally to ANSI B16.5. Lined fittings are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX, and every lined part is spark tested at a minimum of 10,000 volts before it leaves the shop. A phosphoric acid line is not the place to find a pinhole, so we find it first.

From Jacksonville to Miami, and the phosphate district between

We serve Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach, Palatka, Orlando, Tampa, Lakeland, Bartow, Mulberry, Plant City, Riverview, Bradenton, Fort Pierce, Clewiston, Belle Glade, Fort Myers and Miami, and every acid plant and chemical feed building in between. Send a spool list, a valve schedule or a marked-up P&ID and we will quote it. Call 251-625-4949 or contact us online.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Florida

What liner do you recommend for wet-process phosphoric acid at a Bone Valley plant?

PTFE for acid that carries fluoride, especially at evaporator temperatures, and PVDF where gypsum fines make abrasion the bigger concern. Both are supplied with the same flange and fitting dimensions, so a line can mix them where the service changes.

Can you supply jacketed lined pipe for molten sulfur at a Tampa Bay terminal or acid plant?

Yes. We build steam-jacketed lined pipe along with clamp-on steam heaters and heat-transfer compound, and PTFE's temperature rating comfortably covers the 250 to 300 F needed to keep sulfur liquid.

Is lined pipe worth it for a citrus or sugar plant's clean-in-place chemicals?

For the caustic and nitric or phosphoric acid supply lines and for peel-oil streams, yes. Lined carbon steel costs less than stainless, PTFE is unaffected by d-limonene, and lined diaphragm valves give clean shutoff on the acid side.

Do you supply lined piping for Florida water and desalination plants?

We do. Sodium hypochlorite, ferric chloride, sulfuric acid and fluorosilicic acid feed lines are routine for us, and reverse osmosis plants on the coast and in South Florida use lined pipe wherever acid dosing meets salt water.