Speeds of Sound in Binary Mixtures of Water and Carbon Dioxide at Temperatures from 273 K to 313 K and at Pressures up to 50 MPa

Abstract

Knowledge of thermodynamic properties of aqueous solutions of CO2 is crucial for various applications including climate science, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and seawater desalination. However, there is a lack of reliable experimental data, and the equation of state (EOS) predictions are not reliable, particularly for sound speeds in low CO2 concentrations typical of water resources. For this reason, we have measured speeds of sound in three different aqueous solutions containing CO2. We report speeds of sound in the single-phase liquid region for binary mixtures of water and CO2 for mole fractions of CO2 of 0.0118, 0.0066 and 0.0015 at temperatures from 273.15 K to 313.15 K and at pressures up to 50 MPa, measured using a dual-path pulse-echo apparatus. The relative standard uncertainties of the sound speeds are 0.05 %, 0.03 % and 0.01 % at 0.0118, 0.0066 and 0.0015 CO2 mole fractions, respectively. The change in sound speeds as functions of composition, pressure and temperature are analysed in this study. We find that dissolution of CO2 in water increases its sound speeds at all conditions, with the greatest increase occurring at the highest mole fractions of CO2. Our sound speed data agree well with the limited available experimental data in the literature but deviate from the EOS-CG of Gernert and Span by up to 7 % at the lowest temperatures, highest pressures, and highest CO2 mole fraction. The new low-uncertainty sound speed data presented in this work could provide a basis for development of an improved EOS and in establishing reliable predictions of the change in thermodynamic properties of seawater-like mixtures due to absorption of CO2 gas.