Lined Pipe in South Dakota

South Dakota does not have a refinery or a chlor-alkali plant, but it has sixteen ethanol plants, a fast-growing soybean crushing industry, a heap-leach gold mine in the Black Hills, large cheese and meat plants, and water utilities that treat Missouri River and glacial-lake water for cities and rural systems. All of that chemistry, sulfuric acid, caustic, cyanide solution, peroxide, hypochlorite and acid cleaning solutions, runs through pipe, and Marspec Technical Products fabricates the plastic-lined pipe spools and supplies the lined fittings and valves that let it run without corroding. We fabricate spools in Fairhope, Alabama, and ship them to South Dakota plants from Sioux Falls to Lead.

Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online to talk through a line, send a drawing or request a quote.

Where the corrosive chemistry is in South Dakota

Ethanol and oilseed crushing

South Dakota's ethanol industry makes more than 1.3 billion gallons a year, ranks about fifth in the nation and buys over half of the state's corn crop. The plants are spread across the eastern half of the state at places like Chancellor, Aberdeen, Mina, Big Stone City, Wentworth, Redfield, Onida, Hudson and Huron. A dry-grind plant doses sulfuric acid for pH control in cook and fermentation, runs caustic and acid clean-in-place through the fermenters and evaporators, and handles sodium hypochlorite, ammonia and antimicrobial chemicals. Soybean crushing has grown alongside it: the plant at Volga has operated for decades, a crush plant at Aberdeen takes about 50 million bushels a year, and a new plant near Mitchell targets 100,000 bushels a day. Crush plants use hexane extraction, phosphoric acid degumming and caustic refining of the oil. Lined pipe handles every one of those streams and keeps iron out of the oil and the finished ethanol.

Gold, water treatment and the Black Hills

West of Lead, an open-pit heap-leach gold mine stacks crushed ore on leach pads and applies a dilute alkaline sodium cyanide solution, with lime added for pH control. Pregnant solution flows to carbon columns, loaded carbon is stripped at high temperature and pressure, and spent solution is detoxified with hydrogen peroxide before it reaches the water treatment plant. Cyanide solution, strip solution, peroxide and the nitrate-laden water that follows are all media where a PTFE liner outlasts bare steel, and polypropylene is available for the cyanide solution where a specification calls for it. The former Homestake mine, now an underground research laboratory, still treats mine water on a large scale, and the cement plant at Rapid City and the lime trade around it add their own acid and alkali handling.

Food, dairy, meat and municipal water

Sioux Falls is one of the larger meat-packing centers in the upper Midwest, and the cheese plants around Lake Norden and Milbank are among the biggest in the country. These plants live on clean-in-place chemistry: hot caustic, nitric and phosphoric acid blends, peracetic acid and chlorine-based sanitizers, pumped through headers that are cleaned many times a day. Lined pipe in 304 or 316 stainless housings gives a sanitary-looking, non-contaminating line that does not pit under chlorides. Municipal and rural water systems, including the regional systems that draw from the Missouri, dose sodium hypochlorite, ferric chloride, fluoride and sulfuric acid in concentrations that eat carbon steel and most stainless grades.

Lined pipe, valves and accessories for South Dakota

We fabricate custom lined spools from 1/2" through 12" in lengths up to 20 ft, with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene liners and carbon steel or 304 and 316 stainless housings. Our lined pipe and fittings are flanged to ANSI B16.5 dimensions, so an elbow, tee, reducer or instrument tee from us bolts into a run you already have.

• PTFE- and PFA-lined ball, plug and butterfly valves for acid, caustic and cyanide isolation
• Lined diaphragm valves for slurry and solids-bearing streams; lined check and sampling valves
• Lined strainers, lined expansion joints, PTFE spacers, spectacle blinds and sight glasses
• Solid PTFE pipe for high-purity and small-bore service

Keeping lines flowing through a prairie winter

Half of what South Dakota plants pump will freeze, crystallize or thicken in an unheated pipe rack. Fifty percent caustic solidifies in the fifties Fahrenheit, concentrated sulfuric acid gets viscous and stratifies, and CIP chemicals stored outdoors lose strength when they freeze. We supply clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound engineered for lined pipe, so the line stays warm enough to flow but never hot enough to damage the liner. See our temperature maintenance page for how the heaters mount and how we size them.

Quality you can write into the spec

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 each lined pipe spool and fitting is spark-tested at a minimum of 10,000 volts before it ships. We have spent more than half a century in the plastic-lined piping industry, and the technical details page lays out liner chemistry, vacuum and temperature limits and flange torque values for your engineers.

From Sioux Falls to Rapid City

We ship custom spools nationwide from Fairhope, Alabama, built to order for plants in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, Brookings, Watertown, Mitchell, Huron, Yankton, Pierre, Lead and the ethanol towns in between. Call (251) 625-4949 with your line list, or contact us online and we will respond with a quote and any questions.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in South Dakota

Which liner works for the sulfuric acid and caustic lines at a South Dakota ethanol plant?

PTFE handles both sulfuric acid at any concentration and caustic at any strength, so one liner covers the dosing lines and the CIP header. Polypropylene is available for dilute acid and caustic at moderate temperatures where a specification calls for it, but PTFE is what we quote, and in a finished spool the liner is a small part of the cost.

Can lined pipe carry cyanide solution and hydrogen peroxide at a Black Hills heap-leach operation?

Yes. Alkaline sodium cyanide solution, strip solution and hydrogen peroxide are all compatible with PTFE liners, polypropylene is available for the cyanide solution where a specification calls for it, and the steel housing gives you a flanged, pressure-rated line that holds up on a mine site.

Do you supply lined pipe for food and dairy plants near Lake Norden or Sioux Falls?

We do, in 304 or 316 stainless housings with PTFE liners for CIP acid, caustic and sanitizer lines. The liner does not corrode, does not contaminate product and tolerates hot caustic followed by acid in the same shift.

How do you keep a caustic line from freezing at a plant near Aberdeen or Watertown?

We supply clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound designed for lined pipe. They hold the line above the freeze point of 50 percent caustic without exceeding the liner's temperature limit.