Laboratories and technological platforms

BioREP is an experimental platform for studying deep environments and characterising the natural biogeochemical processes and/or industrial processes that take place there. It enables the safe study of interactions between water, gas, rocks and micro-organisms under a wide range of pressure and temperature, both for fundamental research and to meet very specific operational needs.

Situated on BRGM's site in Orléans since 2008, BRGM's geothermal platform is the only laboratory of its kind in France. It is used to test shallow geothermal exchangers – of the type used to provide heating or cooling in private houses or small buildings – in real-life conditions.

Thanks to their high resolution mass spectrometer, the BRGM's laboratories are now able to detect molecules in the environment that have not yet been identified, to develop suitable monitoring methods.

As part of building a more “circular economy”, BRGM can help you design and develop innovative solutions for the extraction and use of primary and secondary mineral resources.

BRGM helps you to optimise the design of a probe field and determine configurations that ensure the best compromise between cost and performance.

In France, almost 9,000 sites are contaminated by heavy metals, such as lead, copper and chromium, as well as by hydrocarbons and organochlorine compounds, which include pesticides and solvents. Decontaminating them is a major challenge for our environment. This is the objective of the experimental PRIME platforms, installed at the BRGM site in Orléans.

The subsurface is a vital resource for human activities. Sustainable resource management requires in-depth knowledge of this environment, which can be acquired directly (through field surveys, drilling, chemical and mineralogical characterisation, etc.) and/or indirectly through subsurface imaging methods such as airborne geophysical surveys.