Molten Salt & Steel: A New Pact to Decarbonize Heavy Industry

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – May 19, 2026 – In a significant move to reshape the economics of industrial decarbonization, carbon capture innovator Mantel today announced a strategic partnership with global engineering giant Wood. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) designates Wood as the preferred partner to integrate Mantel's novel high-temperature capture system into commercial projects, signaling a pivotal shift from lab-scale theory to industrial-scale reality for one of climate tech's most promising frontiers.

The alliance aims to tackle the Achilles' heel of traditional carbon capture: crippling costs and energy penalties. By combining Mantel’s groundbreaking molten-borate chemistry with Wood’s decades of experience in designing and building complex industrial facilities, the partnership seeks to deliver a scalable, cost-effective solution for the world's most stubborn emitters in sectors like power generation, manufacturing, and oil and gas.

“Successfully deploying carbon capture in heavy industry requires more than innovative chemistry; it has to work within the realities of how these systems run day in and day out,” said Cameron Halliday, co-founder and CEO of Mantel, in a statement. “We’ve spent years working through these complex challenges with Wood, and we trust their team to help bring this into real-world projects as we scale.”

A Molten Revolution in Carbon Capture

At the heart of the partnership is Mantel's proprietary technology, a system that fundamentally rethinks the process of separating carbon dioxide from industrial flue gas. Unlike conventional methods that require exhaust gases to be cooled to near-ambient temperatures for capture and then reheated—a process that consumes vast amounts of energy—Mantel's system operates directly in the high-heat environment of industrial stacks, at temperatures around 600°C.

The key is a proprietary liquid-phase absorbent: molten borate salts. These salts are the first high-temperature liquid materials developed for carbon capture. Flue gas is bubbled through the molten salt, which selectively absorbs CO₂, and the exothermic reaction produces high-grade heat. This captured heat, a major source of energy loss in other systems, is recovered and converted into high-pressure steam or electricity, which can be fed back into the plant's operations. This integrated energy recovery is the basis for Mantel's claim of reducing energy losses by 97% compared to conventional capture systems.

After capture, the CO₂-rich salt is heated moderately in a separate reactor to release a stream of 99.9% pure CO₂, ready for transport and permanent storage or utilization. The regenerated molten salt is then recirculated in a closed loop. Because the absorbent is a liquid, it is immune to the physical degradation that plagues many solid sorbents operating at high temperatures, ensuring stable, continuous performance over thousands of hours.

This thermal efficiency directly translates to economic benefits. Mantel projects that its technology can drive the cost of capture down to between $30 and $50 per tonne at commercial scale, which is less than half the industry-average cost. This dramatic cost reduction could transform carbon capture from a regulatory burden into an economically viable pathway for industries to meet climate targets.

Forging a Partnership of Innovation and Scale

While Mantel provides the disruptive chemistry, Wood brings the industrial might and engineering know-how essential for deployment. With a history in carbon capture and storage (CCS) spanning over 40 years and involvement in over 175 projects globally, Wood possesses the deep expertise in fired equipment integration and large-scale project execution that startups often lack.

The firm has been instrumental in the engineering and design of major global decarbonization projects, from the Acorn CCS project in the UK to one of the world's largest CCS hubs in the Middle East. This track record makes Wood an ideal partner to translate Mantel's modular, “bolt-on” design into safe and reliable installations on complex industrial sites.

The strategic importance of this approach has not been lost on major energy players. In 2024, Mantel secured $30 million in Series A funding co-led by Shell Ventures and Eni Next, with participation from bp Ventures. These investments underscore a growing consensus within the energy sector that cost-effective carbon capture is not just an option but a necessity for decarbonizing their vast, long-lived assets.

The Canadian Frontier: A Blueprint for Industrial Decarbonization

The partnership's first test will be in the heart of Canada's oil sands. Wood is currently delivering the front-end engineering design (FEED) for Mantel's inaugural commercial project at a Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) facility in Western Canada. In SAGD operations, enormous quantities of steam are injected deep underground to heat heavy bitumen, making it fluid enough to be pumped to the surface. This steam generation is the single largest source of CO₂ emissions at these facilities.

“In SAGD operations, steam generation is the largest source of CO₂ emissions. By integrating carbon capture directly into the heat source, we are changing the equation entirely,” explained Richard Spires, Global Director at Wood. “It reduces complexity and opens the door to more efficient system design.”

This first-of-a-kind project is expected to capture approximately 60,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually while co-producing 150,000 tonnes of high-pressure steam for the facility's operations. While the specific operator has not been named, public records indicate that Strathcona Resources, Canada's fifth-largest oil producer, has been actively pursuing CCS at its SAGD facilities in Alberta with support from provincial and federal agencies.

The project is backed by a robust ecosystem of government support. Both Alberta, through its Carbon Capture Incentive Program (ACCIP) and agencies like Alberta Innovates, and the Canadian federal government, through its Carbon Management Strategy and investment tax credits, have identified CCUS as a cornerstone of the nation's path to achieving its 2050 net-zero goal. This project, therefore, serves not only as a commercial launchpad for Mantel but also as a potential blueprint for decarbonizing a critical sector of the Canadian economy.

As industrial sectors worldwide face mounting pressure to reduce their carbon footprint, the collaboration between Mantel and Wood represents a pragmatic and powerful new model. By bridging the gap between cutting-edge science and industrial-scale engineering, this partnership aims to prove that decarbonizing heavy industry is not just necessary, but increasingly achievable.