Lined Pipe in Missouri

Most of the lead mined in the United States comes out of the Missouri Ozarks, and the mills, recyclers and chemical plants that follow it move acid and caustic every hour of the day! Marspec Technical Products fabricates PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined pipe spools and fittings and supplies lined valves, piping accessories and temperature-maintenance products to Missouri plants, shipping from Fairhope, Alabama. Call 251-625-4949 or contact us online to start a quote.

We have more than half a century in plastic-lined piping, and Missouri's industrial base, metals in the south, chemicals and pharmaceuticals in St. Louis, animal health and ammunition in Kansas City, and river-water treatment everywhere, is a good match for the way we work.

Missouri's industrial base, from the Lead Belt to the river cities

The Lead Belt

The Viburnum Trend through Reynolds, Iron and Dent counties is the richest lead-mining district in the country, with underground mines and flotation mills producing lead, zinc and copper concentrates. Nearby at Boss, one of the largest lead recycling plants in the world breaks spent automotive batteries, neutralizes their sulfuric acid, desulfurizes the paste with caustic or soda ash and smelts the lead back into ingots. Battery acid, sodium sulfate liquor, caustic, lime slurry and acidic mine water all run through piping that ordinary steel cannot tolerate, and the lime-treatment and water-discharge systems at the mine sites carry the same chemistry in dilute form. PTFE-lined pipe and lined diaphragm valves are the right tools for the acid and caustic ends of that process.

St. Louis: chemicals, pharmaceuticals, brewing and aircraft

St. Louis has been a chemical town for well over a century. Today the region makes laboratory and specialty chemicals, food-grade and technical phosphates from purified phosphoric acid, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and agricultural chemistry, with one of the largest crop-protection chemical plants in the country upriver on the Mississippi near Hannibal. The brewery on Pestalozzi Street is among the largest in the nation, and its clean-in-place systems cycle caustic and acid through miles of pipe. The military aircraft plant by the airport runs anodizing, chemical milling and plating lines on chromic, sulfuric, nitric and hydrofluoric acid. Phosphoric acid of food grade, solvents and reagents of laboratory grade, and anodizing acids all share one requirement: nothing metallic may leach into them, which is precisely what a PTFE or PVDF liner guarantees.

Kansas City and the Missouri River

Kansas City anchors the animal health corridor, with vaccine and veterinary pharmaceutical plants that run sterile water, buffer, solvent and clean-in-place chemical systems. The Army ammunition plant at Independence is the largest small-caliber ammunition producer in the country, and brass case making means pickling, bright-dipping and wastewater treatment in sulfuric, nitric and chromic acid. The region's automotive assembly plants at Claycomo and Wentzville run phosphating and pretreatment lines ahead of their paint shops, and biodiesel and ethanol plants in the river counties handle methanol, sodium methylate, sulfuric acid and caustic. Kansas City and St. Louis both draw drinking water from the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and treat it with lime, ferric coagulants, chlorine or hypochlorite and fluorosilicic acid.

Two more Missouri specialties deserve mention. Rolla is home to a maker of photoresist and anti-reflective coating materials for the semiconductor industry, work done in high-purity solvents where PVDF- and PFA-lined pipe keeps metal ions out. And the state's power fleet, from the nuclear station near Fulton to the coal-fired plants on the Missouri and Mississippi, runs limestone scrubbers, demineralizers and acid-dosed wastewater systems that are built on lined pipe and lined valves.

What we supply, by service

• Acid lines, from battery acid and pickle liquor to chromic and hydrofluoric anodizing baths: PTFE- or PVDF-lined pipe spools and fittings, 1/2" through 12", carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housings, fabricated to your isometrics in lengths up to 20 ft.
• Caustic, brine and hypochlorite lines: PTFE-lined spools and fittings on one liner specification, hot or cold, with polypropylene available where a specification calls for it.
• Shutoff, throttling and sampling: PTFE- and PFA-lined ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling valves.
• Everything around the line: lined strainers, expansion joints, spacers, spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe.
• Lines that freeze or thicken in a Missouri winter, including 50 percent caustic and sodium sulfate liquor: jacketed lined pipe, clamp-on steam heaters, electric tracing and heat-transfer compound.

Liner thicknesses, flange dimensions, bolt lengths and torque procedures are on our Technical Details page, and we will talk through liner selection for any stream not on the chart.

Tested and certified

Our lined products 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 part is spark tested at a minimum of 10,000 volts before it ships. Certifications go out with the order for the plants that need them on file.

Serving St. Louis, Kansas City and the Lead Belt

We ship to St. Louis, Hazelwood, Festus, Herculaneum, Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve, Viburnum, Boss, Rolla, Springfield, Joplin, Columbia, Jefferson City, Hannibal, Kansas City, Independence, Claycomo, Wentzville and St. Joseph. Send a spool list, a valve takeoff or a drawing of the line that keeps failing and we will quote custom spools and lined valves to replace it. Call 251-625-4949 or contact us online.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Missouri

Do you supply lined pipe for battery acid and desulfurization liquor at a Lead Belt recycling plant?

Yes. Spent battery acid and the caustic or soda-ash desulfurization circuit are routine services for PTFE-lined pipe, and we supply matching lined diaphragm and plug valves. Tell us the solids content and temperature and we will choose the liner.

Can lined pipe meet purity requirements for food-grade phosphates and pharmaceutical ingredients in St. Louis?

PTFE and PFA liners are inert and add no metal ions to the product, which is why they are specified for purified phosphoric acid, solvent and clean-in-place lines in food and pharmaceutical plants. Material certifications ship with the order.

What do you recommend for anodizing and plating acid lines at Kansas City or St. Louis aerospace and ammunition plants?

PTFE-lined pipe and valves for chromic, nitric, hydrofluoric and mixed acid supply and rinse lines, with PVDF as an option on cooler, more abrasive services. Lined strainers and sight glasses are available for the same lines.

How do you keep caustic from freezing on a Missouri pipe rack?

Fifty percent caustic begins to crystallize near 54 F, so we supply jacketed lined pipe or clamp-on steam heaters and electric tracing packed in heat-transfer compound, sized for your line and the coldest conditions you expect, and ship it with the spools from Fairhope, Alabama.