Plastic Lined Piping Accessories in Alabama

Alabama is our home state. Our shop is in Fairhope, on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, a few hours from most of the state's process plants. A lined line is only as serviceable as the pieces around its spools. Those are the strainer ahead of a pump, the expansion joint at a nozzle and the blind that isolates a tank. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online with the line list.

Marspec Technical Products brings more than fifty years in plastic-lined piping to that work. Our piping accessories start with lined strainers and sight flow indicators. They run on to PTFE expansion joints, solid and armored PTFE spacers, spectacle blinds, mixing tees and solid PTFE pipe. For tanks and reactors there are spargers, dip tubes, nozzle liners, tank bottom valves and reactor sampling systems. Below, each is matched to Alabama service.

Matching accessories to Alabama chemistry

Chlorine and bleach at McIntosh

The chlor-alkali plant at McIntosh, in Washington County, lists bleach, caustic soda, chlorine, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen and salt as its products. Plants blind a chlorine or HCl line before anyone opens it. A lined spectacle blind does that by flipping the plate at the flange, with no spool to remove. Chlorine and HCl permeate PTFE, so the spools in that service get vented housings. On bleach transfer lines, a sight flow indicator shows product moving without breaking a flange.

Phenol at Theodore

The phenol and acetone plant at Theodore started up in 2000 at 400,000 tonnes a year and has grown to more than 540,000. Phenol is made by cleaving cumene hydroperoxide over a sulfuric acid catalyst, and those acidic streams are lined-pipe service. Phenol itself freezes at about 105 °F, above almost any Alabama afternoon, so every phenol line needs heat. Fully jacketed pipe and fittings carry that heat through each flange and elbow, the cold spots on a traced line. On short runs, electric tracing over heat transfer compound holds temperature with simpler controls.

Spent pickle liquor at Calvert

The acid regeneration plant at the Calvert carbon steel mill was designed to recondition 150,000 cubic meters of spent hydrochloric acid a year. That acid descales about four million tonnes of hot-rolled steel. The roaster runs far above any liner's limit and is refractory work. Lined pipe belongs on the spent liquor feed, the absorber and the regenerated acid return. Iron oxide and scale travel with the liquor, so lined basket strainers go ahead of the feed pumps. PTFE expansion joints at the pump nozzles keep vibration and strain off the header.

Bleached board at Pennington

The Naheola mill at Pennington has run since 1959 and makes cup and plate stock and tissue by the bleached sulfate process. Bleach plants like it generate chlorine dioxide, whose solution pits stainless steel. PTFE expansion joints take thermal movement where hot bleach plant runs meet towers and pumps. A sight flow indicator on the chlorine dioxide feed confirms flow to the tower. Liner choices for the rest of the mill are on our pulp and paper page.

Acetic acid at Decatur

Decatur's aromatics complex can make about 745,000 tonnes a year of purified terephthalic acid by oxidizing paraxylene in acetic acid. Acetic acid freezes at about 62 °F, so an idle outdoor line can freeze on an Alabama winter night. PVDF loses ground in hot concentrated acetic acid, so the liner there is PTFE. Clamp-on steam heaters suit valves and low points, and electric tracing covers the straight runs. Steam at moderate plant pressure stays well inside PTFE's 450 °F limit. Our Decatur and Huntsville page covers the rest of the Tennessee Valley.

Parts made to a drawing

Some parts are in no catalog. We machine PTFE to your drawing: a spacer of an odd thickness, a bushing, a replacement for a part on an older lined system. For steel parts whose shape a liner cannot follow, we apply fluoropolymer powder coating. A coating is thinner than a liner, so we review the fluid and temperature before recommending one.

The spools and valves the accessories bolt to

Our Fairhope shop builds PTFE-, PVDF- and polypropylene-lined spools from 1/2" through 12", in lengths up to 20 ft. Housings are carbon steel or 304/316 stainless, with ANSI B16.5 flanges. Our lined valves bolt to the same flanges. Every lined spool and fitting is spark tested at a minimum of 10,000 volts. Liner temperature limits, liner thicknesses, flange dimensions and torque tables are on our Technical Details page.

• Alabama's industries, region by region
• Lined valves for Alabama service
• Lined fittings, and matching a replacement to an existing system
• The Mobile chemical corridor, plant by plant

Serving Alabama from Mobile Bay

We serve Mobile, Theodore, Axis, Saraland, McIntosh, Calvert, Pennington, Demopolis, Selma, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Decatur and Huntsville. Baldwin County, on our side of the bay, is next door. Send a line list, a P&ID or a photo of the strainer that keeps plugging. Call (251) 625-4949 or contact us online.

FAQ: Plastic Lined Piping Accessories in Alabama

Which accessories go on a chlorine or hydrochloric acid line in the Mobile corridor?

A lined spectacle blind at each isolation point, a lined strainer ahead of each pump and a PTFE expansion joint at its nozzle. The spools in that service need vented housings, since chlorine and HCl both permeate PTFE.

How do Alabama plants keep phenol and acetic acid lines from freezing?

Phenol freezes near 105 °F and acetic acid near 62 °F, so both need heat even on the Gulf Coast. Fully jacketed pipe and fittings suit lines that must never cool; clamp-on steam heaters or electric tracing over heat transfer compound suit shorter runs.

Is a steel mill's acid regeneration roaster lined-pipe service?

No. The roaster runs far above any liner's limit. Lined pipe, strainers and expansion joints belong on the spent pickle liquor feed, the absorber and the regenerated acid return.

Can you make a PTFE part that no catalog lists?

Yes. We machine PTFE to your drawing, including odd-thickness spacers and replacement parts for older lined systems. Tell us your required date when you request a quote.