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, so the ultrapure water and electronic-grade chemicals run in solid natural PVDF or PFA. Lined pipe and lined valves are for bulk chemical supply, acid waste and neutralization, with PTFE-lined spools on 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. Where a mill bleaches, 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 with PFA-lined diaphragm and plug valves is 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 zirconium and hafnium 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 dose sodium hypochlorite, ferric chloride and sulfuric acid. And the data centers at Hillsboro, Prineville, The Dalles and Umatilla County run cooling water treatment on acid and biocide feeds. Lined pipe serves every one of these: PTFE for the chlorinated and mixed acid streams and for nitric, hypochlorite, dilute acids and caustic alike, with PVDF an option only on cooler, dilute nitric acid and on dilute or on-site hypochlorite at pH 12 or below, 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 PFA linings on the ball, plug and diaphragm valves and a PTFE lining on the butterfly valve, 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. For jacketed or traced service, we recommend specifying PTFE.
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 temperature limits, liner thicknesses, flange dimensions and torque tables 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 PFA-lined diaphragm or plug 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. Chlorine dioxide permeates the PTFE face of the diaphragm, so on those lines we supply the PTFE/FPM diaphragm, whose FPM backing resists it, rather than the standard PTFE/EPDM.
Where does lined pipe fit in a Hillsboro or Gresham fab?
In bulk chemical supply, acid waste and neutralization. PTFE- and PVDF-lined spools and lined valves add no metal ions and resist the hydrofluoric acid and peroxide used in wafer cleaning, while ultrapure water and electronic-grade chemicals at the tools run in solid natural PVDF or PFA. Amines and caustic attack PVDF, so those lines go in PTFE, and we prefer PTFE for ammonia, including the ammonium hydroxide supply. 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; on peracetic acid, use lined diaphragm valves, or ball valves with a vented ball (vent facing upstream).
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 coldest ambient temperature at the site. Each option stays below the liner's temperature limit while keeping 50 percent caustic from crystallizing. For jacketed or traced service, we recommend specifying PTFE.