Journal Article

Carbon dioxide concentration dictates alternative methanogenic pathways in oil reservoirs

Takeuchi, Mio, Tamaki, Hideyuki, Mayumi, Daisuke, Miyagawa, Yoshihiro, Ikarashi, Masayuki, Kamagata, Yoichi, Nakatsu, Cindy H., Dolfing, Jan, Sakata, Susumu, Maeda, Haruo

2013

Overview

Deep subsurface formations (for example, high-temperature oil reservoirs) are candidate sites for carbon capture and storage technology. However, very little is known about how the subsurface microbial community would respond to an increase in CO 2 pressure resulting from carbon capture and storage. Here we construct microcosms mimicking reservoir conditions (55 °C, 5 MPa) using high-temperature oil reservoir samples. Methanogenesis occurs under both high and low CO 2 conditions in the microcosms. However, the increase in CO 2 pressure accelerates the rate of methanogenesis to more than twice than that under low CO 2 conditions. Isotope tracer and molecular analyses show that high CO 2 conditions invoke acetoclastic methanogenesis in place of syntrophic acetate oxidation coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis that typically occurs in this environment (low CO 2 conditions). Our results present a possibility of carbon capture and storage for enhanced microbial energy production in deep subsurface environments that can mitigate global warming and energy depletion. Deep subsurface formations are potential sites for carbon capture and storage but how subsurface microbial communities may respond to this is not clear. Here, Mayumi et al. construct microcosms and show that increasing CO 2 partial pressure via carbon capture and storage more than doubles the rate of methanogenesis.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Pub. Group
• Subject: 631/326/2565 / 704/158/47 / Acetates - metabolism / Archaea - drug effects / Archaea - metabolism / Carbon dioxide / Carbon Dioxide - pharmacology / Carbon Isotopes / Carbon sequestration / Climate change / Global warming / High temperature / Humanities and Social Sciences / Methane - biosynthesis / Methanogenesis / Microbiota - drug effects / Microcosms / Molecular Sequence Data / multidisciplinary / Oil and Gas Fields - microbiology / Oil reservoirs / Oxidation-Reduction - drug effects / Partial Pressure / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Thermodynamics