Kansas Oil Field Brines and Their Magnesium Content

Abstract

This report is a brief study of the Kansas oil field brines, especially as related to their magnesium content: It has been known in a general way that some of the Kansas oil field brines have magnesium content greater than that of sea water from which, in recent years, metallic magnesium is being extracted successfully on a commercial scale. Similarly, metallic magnesium is also being extracted from oil field brines in Michigan. The chief purpose of the investigation was to ascertain the chemical nature of the waste brines, which are now very expensive to dispose of, and to determine whether metallic magnesium, an essential strategic material for war purposes, might not be extracted from these brines. During the summer of 1942 brine samples and other pertinent data were collected from 79 of the major and more important oil fields in the state. The brines were analyzed in the chemical laboratories at the University of Kansas.

On the basis of the analyses, at least six oil-producing formations (Layton, Stalnaker, Kansas City-Lansing, Hoover, Topeka, and Peru pay zones) have an average magnesium content greater than that of ordinary sea water. Certain other formations, such as "chat," Bartlesville, "conglomerate," and Simpson ("Wilcox") formations, yield brines essentially the same in their magnesium content as sea water. The "Mississippi lime," Gorham, Viola, "Hunton," and Arbuckle formations are deficient in this ingredient. The report includes tables giving the complete analyses of the brines studied.

The report includes a brief description of metallic magnesium and its compounds including their occurrences, uses, and derivation from oil field brines. Sources of required processing materials, costs, and prices of magnesium and its compounds are briefly outlined.

After discussing the factors controlling the commercial practicability of recovering magnesium from oil field brines, the report concludes with an analysis of Kansas oil fields worthy of consideration for magnesium recovery and recommended for further detailed study. The Kansas oil fields most worthy of consideration on the basis of data on hand are: Burrton field, Reno county; Bornholdt field, McPherson county; Zenith field, Stafford and Reno counties; Welch field, Rice county; Hall-Gurney field, Russell county; and Oxford field, Sumner county.

The present studies indicate that metallic magnesium extraction from oil field brines as a new and specialized industry in Kansas is not feasible. The information at hand does, however, suggest strongly that more detailed study may show the practicability of extracting magnesium from the brines as an auxiliary phase of the oil industry, to the extent of offsetting the high cost of brine disposal. This applies especially to the Burrton oil field in Reno county.