Plastic Lined Industrial Valves in Kentucky
Kentucky's hardest valve services sit on its rivers: wet chlorine and aqueous 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 and a PVC plant. Wet chlorine, aqueous hydrochloric acid from the absorbers and vent scrubbers, ethylene dichloride, 50 percent caustic and brine are the daily media; the HCl that EDC cracking sends back to oxychlorination travels dry and solids-free, normally in carbon steel. PFA-lined ball valves hold bubble-tight on aqueous HCl and, with a vented ball (vent facing upstream), on wet chlorine gas, where metal seats pit within months, lined plug valves serve the absorber and scrubber acid, and lined butterfly valves take brine and caustic.
Monomers, formaldehyde and HF in Rubbertown
West Louisville's Rubbertown district holds a cluster of 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 PTFE-lined spools, and PVDF-lined spools only where the specific chemical is rated. Many monomers and chlorinated solvents can build a static charge that pinholes a plain lining or ignites vapor, so bond and ground the spools and use anti-static PFA-AS valves; tell us if your specification calls for an anti-static liner.
Pickling at Ghent and alkylation at Catlettsburg
Ghent's stainless mill finishes strip in mixed nitric-hydrofluoric pickling acid with rinse and regeneration circuits, and the mill at Russellville adds pickle, etch and caustic cleaning lines. Mixed acid sends plants to lined valves: nitric oxidizes elastomers, HF attacks stainless, and a PFA-lined diaphragm valve with the PTFE/FPM diaphragm resists both while a lined plug valve carries the regenerated acid; HF permeates fluoropolymers even at ambient temperature, so the diaphragm has an FPM backing rather than EPDM. The Catlettsburg refinery, about 307,000 barrels a day, puts alkylation acid, spent caustic and amine on lined plug and ball valves.
Bourbon, scrubbers and water
Distilleries making 95 percent of the world's bourbon cycle caustic and acid through clean-in-place systems, and the coal stations along the Ohio scrub with limestone slurry. Lined ball valves go on CIP supply, 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 are PFA-lined, apart from the PTFE-lined butterfly, and flanged to mate with ANSI B16.5 lined pipe. Sizes vary by pattern: ball valves 1/2" through 10", plug valves 1/2" through 6", diaphragm valves 1/2" through 8", butterfly valves 1" through 42", ball check and sampling valves 1/2" through 6", and swing check valves 1-1/2" through 24"; the listing is on our plastic lined valves page.
Plug valves
PFA-lined cylindrical plug valves, 1/2" through 2" full port and 3" through 6" reduced port, cavity-free, with no in-line adjustment, turning at low torque with no pocket for solids. The absorber acid, pickle rinse and spent caustic valve.
Ball valves
Quarter-turn, bubble-tight, PFA-lined body with a PFA-encapsulated ball and a bore that drains. Isolation on wet chlorine gas (with a vented ball), HF, monomers, solvents and caustic.
Butterfly valves
PFA-encapsulated disc in a PTFE-lined wafer or lug body, 1" through 42", for brine, caustic and dilute acid where weight and cost matter.
Diaphragm valves
PTFE-faced diaphragm on a PFA-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 (12 °C). Liner temperature limits, liner thicknesses, flange dimensions and torque tables are 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 aqueous 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 absorber and scrubber acid. The dry HCl that cracking returns to oxychlorination normally runs in carbon steel. Both come flanged to match the PTFE-lined spools we fabricate for the same services.
Can a lined valve take mixed nitric-hydrofluoric pickling acid at the Ghent stainless mill?
Yes. A PFA-lined diaphragm valve has no wetted metal, but HF slowly permeates the lining and the PTFE diaphragm face, so we supply it with the PTFE/FPM diaphragm rather than PTFE/EPDM, 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 valves for most monomers, chlorinated organics and aqueous HF, with PTFE-lined spools on ketones, esters such as the acrylic monomers and amines, and PVDF-lined spools only where the specific chemical and temperature are rated, since PVDF's limit in some chlorinated and aromatic solvents is well below its 275 °F (135 °C) rating. 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 (12 °C) crystallization point.