Page 197 - Geochemistry of Oil Field Waters

184 ORGANIC CONSTITUENTS IN SALINE WATERS

dialysis or electrodialysis; (2) ion exchange;, (3) solvent extraction; (4)
coprecipitation; and (5) carbon adsorption. Their results showed that the
total organic material was most efficiently removed by electrodialysis or by
coprecipitation with ferric hydroxide.
A study of the differential uptake of organic compounds by montmoril-
lonite and kaolinite revealed that montmorillonite adsorbed the compounds
more efficiently than kaolinite. The compounds studied were aspartic acid,
alanine, glucose, and sucrose (Williams, 1960). Approximately 13% of the
aspartic acid was removed from solution by montmorillonite, while kaolinite
removed only about 2%.
The following saturated, monosaturated, and diunsaturated long-chain
fatty acids were found in sea water: saturated Cl0, C12, CI4, C16, CIS, CzO, and
CZ2; diunsaturated CIS; and monounsaturated CI6 and c18 (Emery and
Koerner, 1961). Also isolated were CIS, C1,, and C19 acids which might or
might not have been originally present.
A gas chromatographic method was developed for the determination of
trace amounts of the following fatty acids in water: n-valeric, isovaleric,
n-butyric, isobutyric, propionic, and acetic (Emery and Koerner, 1961). The
gas chromatograph was equipped with a flame ionization detector and a
column of Tween 80 on Chromosorb W.
The fatty acids lauric, myristic, palmitic, stearic, hyristoleic, palmitoleic,
oleic, linoleic, and linolenic were identified in sea water using solvent extrac-
tion, esterification, and gas-liquid chromatography (Slowey et al., 1962).
Samples of deep-sea water contained less unsaturated acids and shorter-chain
acids than surface samples.
Saturated straight-chain fatty acids were found in petroleum-associated
waters from two reservoirs. The carbon numbers were CI4 through C30. The
same acids were identified in a shale-core sample from a petroleum reservoir.
The even-numbered acids predominated over the odd-numbered acids in the
amounts found in every case. The identification methods consisted of extrac-
tion by refluxing, esterification, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry
(Cooper, 1962).
A gas chromatographic method capable of separating unesterified fatty
acids was developed (Metcalfe, 1963). Acids up to CzO were identified using
a thermal conductivity detector and a column composed of phosphoric acid-
treated ethylene glycol succinate polyester on Chromosorb W.
Bordovskii (1965) studied the sources of organic matter in marine basins,
the sedimentation of organic matter in water, and the transformation of
organic matter in sediments and its early diagenesis. He also pointed out that
the organic matter in water is present in true solution, as colloidal organic
detritus, and as live organisms in suspension. Bacteria play an important part
in altering the composition of the organic material in the aqueous phase as
well as in the sediments.
Wangersky (1965) found that organic carbon was present in freshly
distilled water and that it survived triple distillation and distillation from