Lined Pipe in Washington

Between the five refineries on the north Sound, the pulp mills on the Columbia, the tank waste at Hanford and the acid lines in its aerospace shops, Washington moves a remarkable amount of fluid that plain steel cannot survive. Marspec Technical Products fabricates PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined pipe spools and supplies lined fittings and valves for exactly that service, with spools shipping to Washington from our shop in Fairhope, Alabama.

We have been in plastic-lined piping for more than fifty years, and custom spools built to your dimensions are what we do best. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online with a drawing, a line list or just the medium and the size.

Washington's lined-pipe industries

Refining at Cherry Point, Anacortes, Ferndale and Tacoma

Washington has the fifth-largest refining capacity of any state, roughly 640,000 barrels a day across five plants: the big refinery at Cherry Point north of Bellingham, two side by side at March Point in Anacortes, one at Ferndale and a smaller one in the Tacoma Tideflats. Together they run the usual corrosive utilities of a refinery: alkylation acid and spent acid, caustic treating and spent caustic, amine, sour water, demineralized water and the sodium hypochlorite and ferric chloride at the wastewater plant, plus the nonene and tetramer chemical units at Anacortes. Lined pipe handles spent acid and caustic without pitting, lined plug and ball valves give dependable shutoff, and lined spools let a plant replace alloy lines with carbon steel housings.

Pulp, paper and chemical recovery

The kraft and paperboard mills at Longview on the lower Columbia and Port Townsend on Puget Sound, the paper mill at Camas and the recycled containerboard mills at Wallula and Port Angeles carry on an industry that once ran mills across the state. Kraft chemistry is unforgiving: white liquor and 50 percent caustic on the recovery side, chlorine dioxide and peroxide where pulp is bleached, sulfuric acid for tall oil and pH control, and hypochlorite and alum at the water plant. PTFE-lined pipe and PTFE-lined diaphragm valves are the usual specification for chlorine dioxide, and PTFE covers the caustic and filtrate lines as well; polypropylene liners are available for the caustic lines where a specification calls for them.

Hanford and the Tri-Cities

Hanford holds about 56 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste in 177 underground tanks, and in late 2025 the Waste Treatment Plant began turning low-activity tank waste into glass. That waste is a hot, highly alkaline brew of sodium hydroxide, nitrate and nitrite, and treating it involves caustic, nitric acid, ion exchange and effluent treatment, all of which call for liners that do not corrode or shed metal. Nearby in Richland, commercial nuclear fuel fabrication converts uranium hexafluoride and handles hydrofluoric acid and ammonia. PTFE is the standard liner choice for this kind of chemistry, with heavy-wall liners and vented housings on HF lines; PVDF suits the nitric and hydrofluoric acid but not the alkaline waste or ammonia.

Silicon, batteries, aerospace and food

Moses Lake, with its cheap Columbia River hydropower, became a silicon town: a polysilicon plant, now idled, and new silicon anode plants for lithium-ion batteries that work with silane, chlorosilanes and hydrochloric acid. On Puget Sound the airframe plants in Everett, Renton and Auburn run chromic, sulfuric and nitric acid anodizing, caustic chem-milling and plating lines. Washington's food industry is just as chemical-intensive: the apple, juice and hop processors of the Yakima Valley, the potato plants of the Columbia Basin, the wineries around the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, dairy plants and the seafood processors of Seattle and Bellingham all push hot caustic, nitric and phosphoric acid and peracetic sanitizer through CIP systems. The region's water utilities and the King County treatment plants dose hypochlorite, ferric chloride and sodium bisulfite. Lined pipe serves every one of these without rust in the product or metal in the bath.

The lined products we ship to Washington

• Custom spools in 1/2" through 12" sizes and lengths to 20 ft, PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene lined, in carbon steel or 304/316 stainless
• Matching lined fittings, from elbows, tees and crosses to laterals, reducers, flanged spacers and instrument tees
• Lined valves: ball, plug, butterfly, diaphragm, check and sampling, PTFE or PFA lined
• Piping accessories: lined strainers, expansion joints, spacers, spectacle blinds, sight glasses and solid PTFE pipe
• Temperature maintenance: clamp-on steam heaters, electric heat tracing and heat-transfer compound

Temperature maintenance matters more east of the Cascades than west of them. Spokane, the Tri-Cities and Moses Lake see winters cold enough to crystallize 50 percent caustic and thicken black liquor or syrup in an outdoor rack. Electric tracing or a clamp-on steam heater under insulation keeps those lines flowing while staying under the liner's temperature limit, and we size the heat input to the liner, not just to the pipe.

Standards our spools and fittings are built to

Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545, and our fittings match ANSI B16.5 dimensions. Lined fittings are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX. Every lined pipe spool and fitting receives a minimum 10,000-volt spark test before it leaves Fairhope. Liner thicknesses, pressure and vacuum ratings and temperature limits are on our technical details page.

Serving Puget Sound, the Columbia and the Inland Northwest

We ship lined pipe and valves nationwide from Fairhope, Alabama, and Washington orders go out the same way, to Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, Renton, Bellingham, Ferndale, Anacortes, Vancouver, Longview, Kalama, Camas, Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Olympia, Yakima, Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, Walla Walla, Moses Lake and Spokane. Tell us the line size, medium and temperature and we will quote it. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online.

FAQ: Lined Pipe in Washington

Which lined products suit spent caustic and spent acid at the Anacortes and Cherry Point refineries?

PTFE-lined pipe and fittings with PTFE-lined plug or ball valves are the common choice for spent sulfuric acid and spent caustic, because PTFE resists both across the concentration and temperature ranges found in alkylation and treating units. Our spools are welded to ASME B31.3 and spark tested to fit refinery piping specifications.

Can you supply lined pipe for nitric acid and caustic service in Hanford or Tri-Cities nuclear work?

Yes. PTFE liners handle nitric acid, sodium hydroxide and the nitrate brines involved in tank waste treatment and decontamination, PVDF the nitric acid but not the caustic, and we fabricate to the isometrics and documentation your project requires. We do not supply radiological equipment, only the lined piping and valves.

What liner do you recommend for chlorine dioxide at a Longview or Port Townsend mill?

PTFE. It is unaffected by chlorine dioxide solution at bleach plant concentrations and temperatures, and PTFE-lined diaphragm valves give tight shutoff without a metal stem in the flow. PTFE covers the caustic extraction stage as well; polypropylene is available there where a specification calls for it.

Do you supply lined pipe for CIP chemicals at Yakima Valley and Columbia Basin food plants?

We do. Lined pipe, lined ball valves and lined sampling valves are used on concentrated caustic, nitric and phosphoric acid and peracetic acid feed lines from bulk storage to the CIP skids, keeping rust and metal out of the chemical supply.