The hydrate formation of CH4 + C2H4 mixture was studied experimentally in two different cases, with and without the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in water. The results manifested that the presence of SDS could not only accelerate the hydrate formation process, but also increase the partition coefficient of ethylene between hydrate and vapor drastically. The partition coefficients of ethylene between hydrate and vapor for methane + ethylene + water with the presence of 500 ppm SDS in water were then systematically measured. The experimental temperature ranged from 273.15 to 278.15 K, the pressure ranged from 2.5 to 5.5 MPa, the initial gas-liquid volume ratio ranged from 95 to 240 standard volumes of gas per volume of liquid, and the mole percentage of ethylene in feed gas mixture ranged from 5.28% to 79.36%. The results demonstrated that ethylene could be enriched in hydrate phase and partition coefficients were increased with the presence of SDS in water. This conclusion is of industrial significance; it implies that it is feasible to recover ethylene from gas mixture, e.g., various kinds of refinery gases or cracking gases in ethylene plant, by forming hydrate. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.