Lined Pipe in New Mexico

New Mexico has become the second-largest oil-producing state in the country on the strength of the Delaware Basin in Eddy and Lea counties, and its gas plants, produced water systems and acidizing crews move hydrogen sulfide, amine, hydrochloric acid and brine. Beyond the oil patch, the Carlsbad district supplies most of the potash mined in the United States, the open pits around Silver City leach copper with sulfuric acid, a uranium enrichment plant at Eunice handles uranium hexafluoride, and a semiconductor fab at Rio Rancho runs on ultrapure water and electronic-grade acids. Marspec Technical Products fabricates the PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined pipe spools and supplies the lined fittings and valves those operations need, with spools shipping to New Mexico from Fairhope, Alabama.

Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online with a drawing or a line list and we will quote lined spools, fittings and valves.

The Permian Basin: Carlsbad, Hobbs and Artesia

The New Mexico side of the Permian, centered on Carlsbad, Hobbs, Artesia and Jal, produces oil, gas and enormous volumes of produced water. Gas processing plants across the Delaware Basin treat sour gas with amine, recover sulfur and dehydrate the gas with glycol, and the rich amine, acid gas and sour condensate streams corrode carbon steel from the inside. Produced water in this basin runs well over 100,000 parts per million of dissolved solids with hydrogen sulfide and iron, and it is gathered, treated with oxidizers and biocides, recycled for completions or injected into disposal wells. The refinery at Artesia, the state's only one, adds alkylation acid, caustic treating, amine and sour water.

Produced water, acidizing and chemical injection

Oilfield service yards in Hobbs, Carlsbad and Artesia blend and store hydrochloric acid for acidizing, along with inhibitors, biocides and oxidizers such as sodium hypochlorite and chlorine dioxide. Acid blending, recycled water treatment and chemical injection skids are natural homes for PTFE-lined pipe and PFA-lined plug and ball valves: the liner resists hydrochloric acid at any strength, chlorides at saturation and hydrogen sulfide, and the steel housing, vented because HCl permeates the liner, gives a flanged, pressure-rated line instead of thermoplastic that sags in the sun.

Potash, copper and uranium enrichment

East of Carlsbad, underground mines and a solar solution-mining operation produce potassium chloride and langbeinite, making the district the largest source of potash in the country. The mills run flotation, hot leach and crystallization on saturated potassium and sodium chloride brines, and saturated brine attacks stainless steel. In Grant County, the open-pit mines around Silver City, Santa Rita and Tyrone leach copper from heaps and dumps with dilute sulfuric acid and recover it by solvent extraction and electrowinning. Raffinate, pregnant leach solution, electrolyte and loaded organic are standard lined-pipe services. At Eunice in Lea County, the country's only commercial uranium enrichment plant handles uranium hexafluoride, which hydrolyzes to hydrofluoric acid on contact with moisture, and fluoropolymer-lined pipe, with heavy-wall liners and vented housings, belongs on the wet side of that chemistry, where the hydrofluoric acid forms.

Rio Rancho, the laboratories and the dairies

The semiconductor fab at Rio Rancho, north of Albuquerque, uses hydrofluoric, nitric, sulfuric and phosphoric acids, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium hydroxide, solvents and ultrapure water, plus a waste neutralization system for the same chemicals. The national laboratories at Los Alamos and Albuquerque handle nitric and hydrochloric acid and high-purity water in work where leaks and contamination are unacceptable. On the eastern plains, Clovis and Roswell host large cheese plants, and those plants cycle hot caustic, nitric and phosphoric acid blends and chlorine or peracetic sanitizers through their lines daily. Water utilities in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe dose sodium hypochlorite, chlorine, ferric salts and fluoride, and brackish groundwater desalination in the south adds sulfuric acid and antiscalant.

What we fabricate for New Mexico

Custom lined spools in 1/2" through 12" sizes and lengths up to 20 ft are built to your isometric with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene liners in carbon steel or 304 and 316 stainless housings. Our lined pipe and fittings, including elbows, tees, reducers, laterals and instrument tees, conform dimensionally to ANSI B16.5.

• PTFE- and PFA-lined ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling valves
• Lined strainers, lined expansion joints, PTFE spacers, spectacle blinds and sight glasses
• Solid PTFE pipe and other products for high-purity and small-bore lines
• Clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound for viscous or crystallizing media

Desert heat is the usual problem in New Mexico, and lined pipe handles it: PTFE is rated far above any summer rack temperature, and the steel housing does not creep or sag like exposed thermoplastic. Where saturated potash brine or 50 percent caustic has to move on a winter night in Carlsbad or Farmington, our temperature maintenance products keep it flowing within the liner's limits.

Standards behind every order

Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545. Lined fittings are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX, and every lined pipe spool and fitting passes a minimum 10,000-volt spark test before it ships. We have more than half a century in the plastic-lined piping industry, and our technical details page covers liner compatibility, vacuum and temperature ratings and flange torque values.

Serving Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Farmington and all of New Mexico

We ship nationwide from Fairhope, Alabama, with custom spools built to order for plants in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, Las Cruces, Roswell, Artesia, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Eunice, Clovis, Farmington and Silver City. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online for a quote.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in New Mexico

Can lined pipe handle Permian Basin produced water and hydrochloric acid at a Hobbs or Carlsbad service yard?

Yes. PTFE resists hydrochloric acid at any concentration, brine at saturation and hydrogen sulfide, and it is the liner we recommend and quote, in a vented housing because HCl permeates the liner; polypropylene is available for dilute acid and brine at moderate temperatures where a specification calls for it. Lined steel also stays rigid and pressure-rated in the desert heat.

What liner works for the sulfuric acid leach and SX-EW circuits at the Grant County copper mines?

PTFE-lined pipe handles raffinate, pregnant leach solution and electrolyte across the acid concentrations and temperatures used in copper leaching, and it is what we quote for the dilute, cooler lines as well; polypropylene can be supplied for those lines if a specification names it. Lined diaphragm valves handle the solids that come with heap leach solutions best, and lined plug valves are used too, accepting that solids can score the sleeve.

Do you supply lined pipe for saturated brine at the Carlsbad potash mills?

We do. Hot saturated potassium and sodium chloride brine pits stainless steel, and PTFE liners in a carbon steel housing give a long-lived, flanged alternative. Lined strainers and sight glasses are available for the same service.

Is lined pipe suitable for the high-purity acids at the Rio Rancho fab or a national laboratory?

PTFE-lined pipe, PFA-lined valves and solid PTFE pipe carry hydrofluoric, nitric and sulfuric acid, peroxide, ammonium hydroxide and ultrapure water without leaching metal ions, which is why they are standard in semiconductor and laboratory chemical distribution. HF lines get heavy-wall liners and vented housings, because HF permeates PTFE.