Lined Pipe in Vermont

Vermont's best-known industrial fluid is milk, and its second is probably hydrofluoric acid. The wafer fab in Essex Junction is one of the state's largest employers and runs the full semiconductor wet chemistry set; the cheese, whey, cream and infant formula plants of the Champlain Valley run clean-in-place acid and caustic every day; a calcium carbonate plant near Pittsford is the largest rail shipper in the state; and sixty wastewater plants in the Lake Champlain basin are adding chemical phosphorus removal. 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 nationwide from Fairhope, Alabama.

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

Vermont's industrial base, from Essex Junction to the Champlain Valley

Roughly a thousand manufacturers employ about 37,000 people in Vermont. Food processing is the largest sector by workforce and electronic equipment second, and Chittenden County alone holds more than 40 percent of the industrial jobs, with Rutland, St. Albans, Williston and Burlington next.

The wafer fab in Essex Junction

The fab on the Winooski River employs close to two thousand people, produces RF silicon-on-insulator and silicon-germanium devices for phones, cars and defense systems, and has federal funding to become the first high-volume producer of gallium nitride chips in the country, with upgrades that include its wastewater treatment. Wet processing there consumes hydrofluoric, sulfuric, nitric, phosphoric and hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium hydroxide and solvents, and the acid waste neutralization and fluoride precipitation systems downstream run on caustic, lime and calcium chloride. PTFE-lined pipe handles hot concentrated acids and peroxide mixes and PVDF-lined pipe the acids at moderate temperature, PTFE-lined spools and lined plug valves serve mixed acid waste headers, hydrofluoric acid and neutralized effluent, with heavy-wall liners and vented housings on HF because it permeates PTFE, and polypropylene-lined pipe is available for the effluent lines where a specification calls for it.

Dairy processing and food plants

Vermont produced about 2.5 billion pounds of milk in 2022 and processes roughly two-thirds of it in state: cheddar and whey powder in Cabot and Middlebury, cream, condensed skim and nonfat dry milk in St. Albans, ice cream in St. Albans and Waterbury, infant formula in Georgia, and dozens of creameries, yogurt makers and breweries in between. Every one of them runs clean-in-place on sodium hydroxide, nitric or phosphoric acid and chlorinated sanitizers, and the larger plants handle membrane cleaning chemicals, whey acid and brine. The CIP chemical supply and return headers, chemical storage and dilution loops, and brine lines are where lined pipe pays off; the sanitary product tubing stays stainless.

Minerals, aerospace and pharmaceuticals

The calcium carbonate plant near Pittsford grinds and purifies marble from quarries in Pittsford and Middlebury into filler and coating pigment and ships it by rail nationwide, with dispersant and acid-cleaning chemistry in the process. Jet engine airfoil plants in Rutland and North Clarendon and the aircraft fuel systems plant in Vergennes run chemical milling, nitric-hydrofluoric pickling, anodizing and passivation lines, and a transdermal patch plant in St. Albans adds pharmaceutical solvent and cleaning service. These are PTFE-lined applications with lined ball and plug valves; polypropylene is available where a specification names it, though not for nitric acid.

Phosphorus, Lake Champlain and the treatment plants

Sixty wastewater facilities discharge into the Lake Champlain basin, and the phosphorus limits under the lake's cleanup plan have pushed plants from Burlington and South Burlington to Rutland, St. Albans and Montpelier toward chemical phosphorus removal with alum or ferric chloride, followed by filtration. Add sodium hypochlorite disinfection and sodium bisulfite dechlorination, and a Vermont treatment plant moves three or four chemicals that corrode steel, two of which, ferric chloride and hypochlorite, pit stainless; vented PTFE-lined pipe with lined diaphragm or ball valves is the durable answer.

What Marspec ships to Vermont

• Custom lined spools, 1/2" through 12", with PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene liners in carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housings, lengths to 20 ft
• Lined elbows, tees, reducers, laterals and flanges, dimensionally conforming to ANSI B16.5
• Lined ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling valves
• Lined strainers, expansion joints, spacers, spectacle blinds, sight glasses, solid PTFE pipe and other products
• Clamp-on steam heaters, electric tracing and heat-transfer compound

Temperature maintenance is not optional in Vermont. Fifty percent caustic crystallizes in the mid-50s F, alum and ferric chloride thicken and can freeze in exposed feed lines, and a CIP caustic tank outdoors at a Franklin County creamery will not deliver in February without tracing. We match the heater or tracing to the liner's temperature limit so the line stays warm and the liner stays intact.

Standards

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 gets a minimum 10,000-volt spark test. We have been in plastic-lined piping for more than half a century, and the ratings behind every quote are on our Technical Details page.

Burlington, Rutland, St. Albans and the rest of the state

We ship spools nationwide from Fairhope, Alabama, to Burlington, South Burlington, Essex Junction, Williston and Colchester; St. Albans, Georgia and Swanton in Franklin County; Rutland, North Clarendon and Pittsford; Middlebury and Vergennes; Barre and Montpelier; Springfield, Windsor and Brattleboro along the Connecticut River; Bennington; and Newport and St. Johnsbury in the Northeast Kingdom. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online to get a quote started.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Vermont

Which liner do you recommend for acid waste and hydrofluoric acid service at the Essex Junction fab?

PTFE for hydrofluoric acid, with heavy-wall liners and vented housings because HF permeates it, and for hot concentrated sulfuric acid, mixed acid waste headers and neutralized effluent; PVDF for nitric or peroxide service and sulfuric acid at moderate temperature; and polypropylene for the effluent where a specification calls for it. We confirm the match against your chemistry and temperature before fabrication.

Do Vermont dairy plants use lined pipe?

On the chemical side, yes. CIP caustic and acid supply and return, chemical storage and dilution, and brine lines are common PTFE-lined services, with polypropylene available for the caustic and brine lines where specified. Sanitary product contact lines stay in stainless tube.

Can you supply lined pipe for alum and ferric chloride phosphorus removal at a Lake Champlain basin treatment plant?

Yes. Both coagulants corrode steel and ferric chloride pits stainless, and PTFE-lined pipe with lined diaphragm valves handles them, along with sodium hypochlorite and bisulfite, at any dose rate.

How do you keep lined chemical lines from freezing in a Vermont winter?

Clamp-on steam heaters or electric tracing with heat-transfer compound, sized to the liner's limit, keep caustic above its crystallization point and alum, ferric chloride and hypochlorite flowing in exposed locations.