Pumps for Hydrochloric Acid (HCl)
Why hydrochloric acid is hard on pumps
Hydrochloric acid attacks nearly every common pump metal, and the chlorides it carries pit stainless steels that shrug off other acids. The liquid is only half the problem. Concentrated HCl fumes, and the vapor corrodes everything near the installation: motor frames, fasteners, structural steel, instrumentation. That makes the sump or containment area around HCl storage a corrosive environment in its own right, even for equipment that never touches the liquid. Concentration and temperature both change how aggressive a given acid stream is, so the service has to be defined before the material can be.
Approaches that get specified
Engineered thermoplastic pumps with no metal in the wetted path are the standard answer for HCl transfer, unloading, and sump duties. Sealless and magnetically driven configurations remove the mechanical seal, the most common leak path on acid service. Vertical thermoplastic sump pumps handle containment pits and drainage where fume exposure rules out ordinary hardware. For acid feed in water treatment and pH control, metering pumps dose HCl precisely at high turndown. The loop finishes with thermoplastic valves and double containment piping where codes or good practice require it.
How RE Merrill confirms the selection
Which thermoplastic fits a given hydrochloric acid duty depends on concentration and temperature, and we treat that as an engineering determination, not a catalog lookup. We confirm wetted materials against curated compatibility data and factory guidance before we quote. Send the duty: concentration, temperature, flow, head, and whether the service is transfer, feed, unloading, or sump, and we return a confirmed selection.
Related lines
Related reading
- Thermoplastic vs. Metal Pumps: Which Should You Specify?
- Thermoplastic Pump Materials Guide: PVC, CPVC, PP, PVDF, ECTFE, and PTFE Compared
- How to Choose a Corrosion-Resistant Centrifugal Pump