Salting-out of methane in single-salt solutions at 25°C and below 800 psia

Aqueous solubilities of methane at 25°C have been determined in single-salt solutions equilibrated with a CH₄ gas phase at 350, 550, and 750 psia. Measurements were made over a range of ionic strengths in NaCl, KCl, CaCl₂, MgCl₂, Na₂SO₄, K₂SO₄, MgSO₄, Na₂CO₃, K₂CO₃, NaHCO₃, and KHCO₃ aqueous solutions.At 25°C and constant pressure and methane fugacity, methane solubilities were largely controlled by the stoichiometric ionic strength, I, and the cation of the salt. Except for an increased salting-out due to HCO₃^?, the anion effect was relatively insignificant. Different but consistent solubility trends were followed in monovalent and divalent cation salt solutions as a function of I. Solubilities increased in salt solutions having a common anion in the following cation sequence: Na⁺ < K⁺ ? Ca²⁺ < Mg²⁺.The molal salting coefficient, k_m, for each salt was constant under the experimental conditions of the study, k_m is defined by $\text{log}\text{γ}\text{ch}{}_4\text{I}$ where $\text{γ}\text{ch}{}_4$, the molal activity coefficient, is the methane solubility ratio () measured at constant temperature, pressure, and CH₄ fugacity. Single-salt k_m values are as follows: 0.121, NaCl (4m); 0.121, Na₂SO₄ (1m); 0.118, Na₂CO₃ (1.5m); 0.146, NaHCO₃ (0.5m); 0.101, KCl (4m); 0.108, K₂SO₄ (0.5m); 0.111, K₂CO₃ (2m); 0.145, KHCO₃ (0.5m); 0.071, CaCl₂ (2m); 0.063, MgCl₂ (2m); and 0.066, MgSO₄ (1.5m) where the molalities in parentheses refer to the maximum salt concentrations used in this study.