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

Knowledge of thermodynamic properties of aqueous solutions of CO 2 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 CO 2 concentrations typical of water resources. For this reason, we have measured speeds of sound in three different aqueous solutions containing CO 2 . We report speeds of sound in the single-phase liquid region for binary mixtures of water and CO 2 for mole fractions of CO 2 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 CO 2 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 CO 2 in water increases its sound speeds at all conditions, with the greatest increase occurring at the highest mole fractions of CO 2 . 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 CO 2 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 CO 2 gas.