Plastic Lined Industrial Valves in Kentucky

Kentucky's hardest valve services sit on its rivers: wet chlorine and by-product HCl at Calvert City on the Tennessee, monomers and hydrogen fluoride in Louisville's Rubbertown on the Ohio, mixed nitric-hydrofluoric pickling acid at Ghent upstream. A metal seat in any of them is a maintenance ticket waiting to be written.

Marspec Technical Products supplies plastic lined valves in PTFE and PFA for those lines and fabricates the lined spools they connect to, with spools shipping from Fairhope, Alabama and more than half a century of plastic-lined piping behind us. We supply Swissfluid PFA- and PTFE-lined valves and build automated valve packages in house; Swissfluid USA supports its national distribution network from its facility in Stafford, Texas. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online and we will match a valve to the service.

Where lined valves earn their keep in Kentucky

Chlorine, HCl and EDC at Calvert City

The Calvert City complex on the Tennessee River runs a chlor-alkali plant, an ethane cracker, a vinyl chloride monomer unit rated above a billion pounds a year and a PVC plant. Wet chlorine, by-product hydrochloric acid from VCM cracking headed back to oxychlorination, ethylene dichloride, 50 percent caustic and brine are the daily media. PFA-lined ball valves hold bubble-tight on wet chlorine and HCl where metal seats pit within months, lined plug valves carry the HCl recycle with its solids, and lined butterfly valves take brine and caustic.

Monomers, formaldehyde and HF in Rubbertown

West Louisville's Rubbertown district still holds about eleven large chemical plants along the Ohio making synthetic rubber, acrylic monomers and resins, formaldehyde and phenolic resins, calcium carbide and fluorinated specialties. The valve list reads sulfuric and hydrochloric acid, caustic, hydrogen fluoride, formaldehyde, monomers, solvents and chlorinated organics. PFA-lined ball and plug valves cover the acids and aqueous HF, and for monomer and chlorinated solvent service, where permeation through the lining matters, we lean toward PFA valves, with PVDF-lined spools where the solvent allows.

Pickling at Ghent and alkylation at Catlettsburg

Ghent's stainless mill, roughly 1.4 million tons a year, finishes strip in mixed nitric-hydrofluoric pickling acid with rinse and regeneration circuits, and the mills at Brandenburg and Russellville add pickle, etch and caustic cleaning lines. Mixed acid sends plants to lined valves: nitric oxidizes elastomers, HF attacks stainless, and a PTFE-lined diaphragm valve resists both while a lined plug valve carries the regenerated acid; HF permeates PTFE even at ambient temperature, so the spools on these lines get heavy-wall liners and vented housings. The Catlettsburg refinery, about 307,000 barrels a day, puts alkylation acid, spent caustic and amine on lined plug and ball valves.

Bourbon, batteries, scrubbers and water

Distilleries making 95 percent of the world's bourbon cycle caustic and acid through clean-in-place systems, battery cell plants under construction at Glendale and Bowling Green bring electrolyte solvents and solvent recovery, and the coal stations along the Ohio scrub with limestone slurry. Lined ball valves go on CIP supply and electrolyte solvents, and lined diaphragm valves on limestone slurry and on hypochlorite, ferric and fluoride feeds at water plants on the Ohio and Kentucky rivers.

Valve types we supply

Patterns below come PTFE- or PFA-lined, 1/2" through 12", flanged to mate with ANSI B16.5 lined pipe; the listing is on our plastic lined valves page.

Plug valves

A lined tapered plug in a lined body, sealing fluoropolymer on fluoropolymer at low torque with no cavity for solids. The HCl recycle, pickle rinse and spent caustic valve.

Ball valves

Quarter-turn, bubble-tight, lined body with an encapsulated ball and a bore that drains. Isolation on wet chlorine, HF, monomers, solvents and caustic.

Butterfly valves

PFA-encapsulated disc in a wafer or lug body, 2" through 12", for brine, caustic and dilute acid where weight and cost matter.

Diaphragm valves

PTFE-faced diaphragm on a lined weir, stem outside the process, no packing and no dead leg. Mixed pickling acid, hypochlorite dosing and slurry throttling.

Check valves

Lined ball and disc checks stop backflow at acid, caustic and chemical feed pumps with nothing metallic to corrode or seize.

Sampling valves

Lined sampling valves draw a representative sample from a pressurized HCl, monomer or acid line without a dead leg or operator exposure.

Automation

Marspec assembles automated valve packages in-house. A lined valve leaves our shop with its pneumatic or electric actuator, positioner, limit switches and solenoid already mounted, stroked and tested, which is how pickle line and scrubber valves are usually ordered. We need the control signal, fail position and air or power supply to size it.

Matching valves to the lined pipe system

We quote valves with the spools we fabricate and fittings we supply, which run 1/2" through 12", PTFE, PVDF or polypropylene lined, in carbon steel or 304/316 stainless housings. Our lined pipe and fittings comply with ASTM F1545, fittings follow ANSI B16.5 dimensions and are welded to ASME B31.3 by welders certified to ASME Section IX, and a spark test of no less than 10,000 volts clears every lined spool and fitting. Jacketed pipe and clamp-on heaters from our temperature maintenance line keep 50 percent caustic liquid at an outdoor valve when January drops below 54 °F. Bolting guidance is on our technical details page; the industries are on our Kentucky lined pipe page.

Serving Louisville, Western Kentucky and the Ohio River towns

Lined spools, valves and automated valve packages ship from Fairhope, Alabama, to Louisville, Lexington, Georgetown, Bowling Green, Owensboro, Henderson, Paducah, Calvert City, Ashland, Catlettsburg, Covington, Ghent and Brandenburg. Send a valve takeoff or P&ID for a quote on valves, actuators and spools as one package. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online to start.

FAQ: Plastic Lined Industrial Valves in Kentucky

What lined valve do you recommend for by-product HCl and wet chlorine at Calvert City?

PFA-lined ball valves for isolation, because PFA resists both and permeates less than PTFE, and lined plug valves on the HCl recycle where solids ride along. Both come flanged to match the PTFE-lined spools we fabricate for the same services, which get vented housings because chlorine and HCl permeate PTFE.

Can a lined valve take mixed nitric-hydrofluoric pickling acid at the Ghent stainless mill?

Yes. A PTFE-lined diaphragm valve has no elastomer in the process and no wetted metal, so neither acid finds metal or elastomer to attack, though HF slowly permeates PTFE, and lined plug valves serve the rinse and regeneration circuits. Send the acid concentrations and bath temperature and we will confirm the lining.

Which linings suit the monomer and solvent streams in Rubbertown?

PFA for most monomers, chlorinated organics and aqueous HF, with PVDF-lined spools where the solvent allows and a lower-permeation lining is wanted. Tell us the specific stream and temperature; some solvents that PTFE tolerates still permeate it, and that changes the recommendation.

Do you automate lined valves for Kentucky plants, and can the package survive an outdoor winter?

We mount and test actuators, positioners, limit switches and solenoids on the lined valve in our shop. For caustic headers outdoors we also supply jacketed lined pipe, clamp-on steam heaters and electric tracing to keep the valve and line above the 54 °F crystallization point.