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Summary Around the world, several dozen deep sedimentary aquifers are being used for storage of natural gas. Ad hoc studies of the microbial ecology of some of them have suggested that sulfate reducing and methanogenic microorganisms play a key role in how these aquifers' communities function. Here, we investigate the influence of gas storage on these two metabolic groups by using high‐throughput sequencing and show the importance of sulfate‐reducing Desulfotomaculum and a new monophyletic methanogenic group. Aquifer microbial diversity was significantly related to the geological level. The distance to the stored natural gas affects the ratio of sulfate‐reducing Firmicutes to deltaproteobacteria. In only one aquifer, the methanogenic archaea dominate the sulfate‐reducers. This aquifer was used to store town gas (containing at least 50% H2) around 50 years ago. The observed decrease of sulfates in this aquifer could be related to stimulation of subsurface sulfate‐reducers. These results suggest that the composition of the microbial communities is impacted by decades old transient gas storage activity. The tremendous stability of these gas‐impacted deep subsurface microbial ecosystems suggests that in situ biotic methanation projects in geological reservoirs may be sustainable over time.

Interest in CO 2 solubility in brine at high pressure and high temperature has grown in the last few decades. Solubility data are especially important in petroleum geology, carbon capture and geological storage, and geothermal reservoir engineering. Nevertheless, for the CO 2 + NaCl + H 2 O system there are fewer solubility data available in literature, particularly at high salt molality. A high-pressure experimental device was designed to perform measurements for carbon dioxide solubility in a complex aqueous solution. The apparatus was first validated from experiment on the CO 2 −pure water system at 323.15 K by comparison with literature data. Thirty-six new experimental solubility data point were obtained in the pressure range between 5 and 20 MPa at three temperatures (323.15, 373.15, and 423.15 K) and at three molalities of NaCl (1, 3, and 6 moles per kilogram of water). Solubility measurements were obtained by potentiometric titration after sample trapping in a sodium hydroxide solution. The experimental solubility data generated in this work were consistent with literature data, and four original isotherms were obtained at high salinity.

In the framework of the efforts of the scientific community developed for the reduction of CO2 emissions, the geological storage of CO2 in deep saline aquifers is under focus. An increase of salinity decreases the potential of CO2 solubilization into the water. In salty waters, the salinity is not only due to NaCl but also to others ions and in particular Ca and Mg. Experimental solubility data of CO2 in calcium chloride solution available in the literature at conditions relevant to carbon storage are particularly scarce. In this work, a new analytical method was developed for experimental measurement of CO2 solubility in calcium chloride solutions (1, 3, and 6 mol/kg) at high pressures (5–20 MPa) and temperatures (323.15, 373.15, and 423.15 K). This method is based on conductometric titration coupled with classical pH titration. The conductimetry shows sharper curves than the pH titration allowing a higher precision. Thirty-six new experimental data are reported in this paper. These data presented an experimental average uncertainty of 2.1% with the ANOVA calculation method based on repeatability and reproducibility experiments. The CO2 solubility in CaCl2 solutions is noticeable lower than in NaCl solution increasing the salting out effect. Considering our previous work on NaCl solutions and this paper for CaCl2 solutions, estimations of the real quantity of CO2 that may be dissolved in saline aquifers can be made with a significantly better precision.