Lined Pipe in Oregon

Oregon's two largest manufacturing industries, semiconductors and food processing, both depend on fluids that must never touch bare steel, and its pulp mills and specialty metals plants run chemistry that eats steel outright. Marspec Technical Products fabricates lined pipe spools with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene liners, supplies lined fittings and valves for that work, and ships spools to Oregon plants from our shop in Fairhope, Alabama.

Send us a spool drawing, a valve schedule or a photo of the failed line. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online and we will quote it promptly. We have been fabricating plastic-lined piping for more than half a century.

Three Oregon industries that cannot run on bare steel

The Silicon Forest

Washington County's Silicon Forest, centered on Hillsboro, holds one of the densest clusters of 200 mm and 300 mm wafer fabs in the country, including the development fabs where one of the world's largest chipmakers proves out its newest process nodes, with further fabs in Gresham and a wafer plant across the river in Vancouver. A fab polishes city water to 18-megohm purity with reverse osmosis, ion exchange and electrodeionization, then distributes hydrofluoric, sulfuric, nitric and phosphoric acids, ammonium hydroxide, hydrogen peroxide and solvents to the tools, and collects the waste for neutralization and fluoride precipitation. Every ion of iron or nickel that leaches from a steel pipe is a yield loss. PVDF-lined pipe and PFA-lined diaphragm valves give the low extractables that ultrapure loops need, and PTFE-lined spools, vented because HF permeates the liner, handle the mixed acid waste.

Pulp and paper on the Columbia and in the Willamette Valley

Kraft mills at Wauna on the lower Columbia, Halsey in the Willamette Valley, Toledo on the coast and Springfield turn Douglas fir and hemlock chips into pulp, tissue and containerboard. The bleach plant runs chlorine dioxide, sodium hydroxide, oxygen and hydrogen peroxide; the recovery side handles white liquor, green liquor, black liquor and 50 percent caustic; and the water plant doses alum, polymer and hypochlorite. Chlorine dioxide and hot caustic are among the hardest fluids in industry for piping to survive. PTFE-lined pipe and PTFE-lined diaphragm and ball valves are the standard answer in the bleach plant and on the caustic and filtrate lines, with polypropylene-lined pipe available for the caustic lines where a specification calls for it.

Food, beverage and dairy

Oregon's food and beverage manufacturers employ more than 35,000 people, second only to semiconductors, with the strongest concentration in frozen fruit and vegetable processing. The potato and onion processors around Boardman and Hermiston in the Columbia Basin, the berry and vegetable freezers of the Willamette Valley, the dairy plants on the Tillamook coast, and the state's wineries and breweries all run clean-in-place systems on hot caustic, nitric and phosphoric acid and peracetic acid. Lined pipe and valves carry those CIP chemicals from the bulk tanks without corrosion, and lined sampling valves let operators check concentration without opening the line.

Metals, water and the Columbia corridor

Albany is one of the world's principal producers of zirconium and hafnium, with niobium and titanium alloys made alongside them. Turning zircon sand into reactor-grade metal means chlorination, solvent extraction and acid leaching, all of which generate chloride and acid streams that destroy ordinary steel. Portland's investment-casting and aerospace shops run pickling, etching and anodizing baths on nitric, hydrofluoric and chromic acids. The region's water and wastewater utilities, including the new filtration plant being built for Portland's Bull Run supply, dose sodium hypochlorite, ferric chloride and sulfuric acid. And the data centers spreading across Hillsboro, Prineville, The Dalles and Umatilla County run cooling water treatment on acid and biocide feeds. Lined pipe serves every one of these: PTFE, in vented housings, for the chlorinated and mixed acid streams and for nitric, hypochlorite, dilute acids and caustic alike, with PVDF for nitric and for dilute or lower-pH hypochlorite and polypropylene for dilute acids and caustic where a specification calls for them.

Spools, fittings and valves for Oregon

Our custom lined pipe spools run up to 20 ft long in 1/2" through 12" sizes, with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene liners in carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housings, fabricated to your isometrics. Matching lined pipe and fittings include elbows, tees, crosses, laterals, reducers, flanged spacers and instrument tees, so a bleach plant header or a fab waste line goes together from matched parts.

We supply lined valves in ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling patterns with PTFE or PFA liners, and we supply the piping accessories that complete a system: lined strainers, expansion joints, spacers, spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe. For lines that carry 50 percent caustic, black liquor or viscous food streams through a Columbia Gorge or eastern Oregon winter, our temperature maintenance products, clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound, keep the medium flowing without exceeding the liner's rating.

One set of standards for every spool and fitting

Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545, and our fittings conform dimensionally to ANSI B16.5. Lined fittings are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX. Each lined pipe spool and fitting gets a minimum 10,000-volt spark test before it ships. Liner thicknesses, vacuum ratings and temperature limits for PTFE, PVDF and polypropylene are on our technical details page.

From Hillsboro to Hermiston

We ship spools nationwide from Fairhope, Alabama, and Oregon orders go out the same way, whether the plant is in Portland, Hillsboro, Gresham, Beaverton, Salem, Albany, Corvallis, Eugene, Springfield, Halsey, Toledo, Clatskanie, Medford, Bend, Prineville, The Dalles, Boardman or Hermiston. Custom spools built to field dimensions are our specialty. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online with the line size, the medium and the temperature.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Oregon

What lined products do you recommend for a chlorine dioxide bleach plant at an Oregon kraft mill?

PTFE-lined pipe and fittings with PTFE-lined diaphragm or ball valves are the usual specification for chlorine dioxide solution, filtrate and bleach tower piping. PTFE handles chlorine dioxide across the full concentration and temperature range found in a bleach plant, and the steel housing holds the pressure and resists mechanical damage.

Can lined pipe meet the purity needs of a Hillsboro or Gresham fab?

Yes. PVDF-lined pipe and PFA-lined diaphragm valves add no metal ions to deionized water and resist the hydrofluoric acid and peroxide used in wafer cleaning; ammonium hydroxide goes in PTFE, since PVDF is not for ammonia. We fabricate spools to the fab's isometrics and spark test every liner.

Do Oregon food and dairy plants use lined pipe for CIP chemicals?

They do, mainly for the concentrated caustic, nitric acid and peracetic acid feed lines from the chemical bulk tanks to the CIP skids. Lined pipe, lined ball valves and lined sampling valves prevent corrosion and keep the chemical supply free of rust.

How do you keep caustic or black liquor from freezing in an eastern Oregon or Columbia Gorge winter?

We supply electric heat tracing, clamp-on steam heaters and heat-transfer compound sized for the line and the lowest expected ambient temperature. Each option stays below the liner's temperature limit while keeping 50 percent caustic from crystallizing.