Experimental characterization of the thermodynamic behavior of multicomponent gas mixtures of accurately known composition is of great importance for testing the current reference equation of state for natural gases and related mixtures, GERG-2008. Natural gas composition may change considerably due to the diversity of origins, or the possibility to incorporate hydrogen, biogas or other non-conventional energy gases.
Thus, the Consultative Committee for Amount of Substance: Metrology in Chemistry and Biology (CCQM) of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) launched a key comparison on primary standard mixtures for natural gases of this particular characteristics. One mixture is a hydrogen-enriched natural gas mixture (13 components, x(H2) = 0.03) with low calorific value to facilitate support to power-to-gas applications, which often involve blending hydrogen with natural gas. The other mixture resembles a typical liquefied natural gas (“LNG”, 9 components) with high calorific value.
This work provides accurate experimental (p, rho, T) values for three binary mixtures of methane with helium: (0.95 (amount-of-substance fraction) CH₄+ 0.05 He) and (0.90 CH₄+ 0.10 He) at temperatures of (240, 250, and 260) K and (0.50 CH₄+ 0.50 He) from (240 to 400) K. This work is a continuation of a previous one which reported accurate experimental (p, rho, T) values for the (0.95 CH₄+ 0.05 He) and the (0.90 CH₄+ 0.10 He) binary mixtures over the temperature range from (250 to 400) K. All density measurements were performed by using a single-sinker densimeter with magnetic suspension coupling at pressures up to 20 MPa. Experimental values were compared with the corresponding densities calculated from the GERG-2008 and the AGA8-DC92 equations of state, respectively. Deviations from the GERG-2008 are much larger than from the AGA8-DC92 (up to -6.5%). These deviations increase with decreasing temperature, with increasing pressure, and with increasing helium fraction. In contrast, deviations from the AGA8-DC92 are within the 0.5% band. The experimental values were also used to calculate the second and the third virial coefficients, B(T,x) and C(T,x), as well as the second interaction virial coefficient B12(T) for this mixture.