Lined Pipe in Nebraska

Nebraska is the second-largest ethanol producer in the United States, one of the largest beef-packing states, and home to a corn bioproducts campus, steel mills, a nitrogen fertilizer plant and galvanizing lines that all run on acid and caustic. Every plant on that list has chemical feed lines, CIP headers and wastewater treatment systems where carbon steel rusts through and stainless pits. That is where plastic-lined pipe earns its keep.

Marspec Technical Products has been in the plastic-lined piping business for more than half a century. We fabricate PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined steel pipe spools and fittings from 1/2" through 12" in Fairhope, Alabama, supply lined valves and accessories, and ship nationwide. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online and we will quote your Nebraska project.

Ethanol: two billion gallons a year

Nebraska's ethanol plants carry roughly 2.2 billion gallons of nameplate capacity, around 14 percent of the national total and second only to Iowa. They are scattered along the Platte and across the eastern half of the state at Columbus, Aurora, York, Hastings, Ravenna, Wood River, Madrid and more than a dozen other towns. Each one feeds sulfuric acid for mash pH control, 50 percent caustic and acid blends for clean-in-place, ammonia or urea as a nutrient, and hypochlorite or chlorine dioxide into cooling towers, and each one runs evaporators under vacuum on thin stillage that concentrates chlorides and organic acids. Those are the exact services where a PTFE or PVDF liner outlasts stainless, where PTFE-lined pipe carries the caustic header, and where lined ball and diaphragm valves keep acid off the valve body. Our PTFE-lined pipe carries a full-vacuum rating, so it belongs on the evaporator and stripper circuits as well as the chemical skids.

Beef, pork and the packing floor

Meatpacking has been central to Nebraska since the Omaha stockyards opened in 1883, and today's large plants sit at Grand Island, Dakota City, Schuyler, Fremont, Columbus, Madison and Hastings. A packing plant is a chemical consumer every night of the week: caustic and chlorinated alkaline cleaners, acid descalers, sodium hypochlorite and peracetic acid for sanitation, antimicrobial sprays on the kill floor, and ferric chloride, polymer and acid or caustic pH adjustment in a high-strength wastewater plant. Rendering adds hot fats and acidic condensate. The product contact surfaces stay stainless, but the bulk chemical distribution from the tank farm to the use points is a lined pipe application, and PTFE-lined pipe with lined diaphragm valves is a reliable choice for hypochlorite and peracetic acid, with PVDF an option for peracetic acid and dilute or lower-pH hypochlorite.

Bioproducts, steel, fertilizer, galvanizing and water

At Blair on the Missouri River, a corn wet-milling and bioproducts campus converts dextrose into lactic acid, polylactic acid, amino acids and ethanol, a fermentation chemistry built on sulfuric acid, ammonia, caustic and hot organic acids that corrode stainless and contaminate product with metal ions. Columbus draws manufacturers with low-cost hydroelectric power and hosts corn milling, medical products and metal fabrication. Norfolk is a steel town, with electric-furnace steelmaking and cold finishing whose pickling, cooling water and scale pit chemistry call for acid-resistant piping. The ammonia plant at Beatrice and the state's structural galvanizing lines, which pickle in hydrochloric acid and flux in zinc ammonium chloride, round out the heavy chemical users. Nebraska also irrigates more acres than any other state and draws drinking water from an aquifer with nitrate problems in many communities, so ion-exchange and reverse-osmosis plants with brine regeneration, antiscalant and hypochlorite feed are spreading from Hastings to the Panhandle. Across all of these, lined pipe replaces alloy piping at a fraction of the cost and with none of the pitting.

Spools built in Fairhope, plus fittings, valves and accessories

• Custom lined pipe spools up to 20 ft, PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene lined, in carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housings, 1/2" through 12"
• Lined elbows, tees, reducers, laterals and instrument tees conforming dimensionally to ANSI B16.5
• Lined ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling valves
• Lined strainers, expansion joints, spacers, spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe
• Clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound for caustic, hypochlorite and ferric chloride lines that would otherwise freeze on the Plains

Nebraska winters are long and the wind is relentless, so outdoor chemical racks need freeze protection designed in from the start. Our heaters and tracing mount outside the lined spool and hold 50 percent caustic above its 54 degree F crystallization point without exposing the liner to steam-jacket temperatures. Everything else we make is listed under Other Products.

Tested before it ships

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, and every lined pipe spool and fitting receives a minimum 10,000-volt spark test. Pressure, temperature and vacuum ratings by liner are listed on our Technical Details page.

Serving Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Columbus, Norfolk and the Tri-Cities

We ship to Omaha, Blair, Fremont, Lincoln, Beatrice, Nebraska City, Columbus, Schuyler, Norfolk, Madison, Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, York, Aurora, Lexington, North Platte, Scottsbluff and every ethanol town in between. Send a line list or a marked-up isometric to info@linedpipe.com, call (251) 625-4949, or contact us online.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Nebraska

What lined pipe do Nebraska ethanol plants use on the sulfuric acid and CIP systems?

PTFE- or PVDF-lined spools and fittings on the acid skid and PTFE-lined pipe on the caustic CIP header, with lined ball or diaphragm valves at each feed point; polypropylene is available for the caustic header where a specification calls for it. We can also supply PTFE-lined pipe rated for full vacuum on evaporator and stripper circuits.

Is lined pipe suitable for hypochlorite and peracetic acid distribution at a Nebraska packing plant?

Yes. Hypochlorite pits stainless, and PTFE-lined pipe with lined diaphragm valves carries both chemicals without corrosion or metal pickup from the bulk tank to the sanitation use points; PVDF suits the peracetic acid and dilute or lower-pH hypochlorite.

Can you supply lined piping for the fermentation and organic acid processes at the Blair bioproducts campus and similar plants?

We can. Hot lactic and citric acid and sulfuric acid are within the ratings of PVDF and PTFE liners, ammonia within PTFE's, and a lined system adds no iron, chromium or nickel to a product that has to meet food, feed or polymer purity specs.

How do you protect outdoor caustic and brine lines from freezing on the Nebraska plains?

We supply clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound that mount on the outside of the lined spool. They keep 50 percent caustic, saturated brine and hypochlorite lines flowing without a welded steam jacket.