Mantel and Wood Take Oil Sands Carbon Capture Into FEED

Oil sands operators running SAGD facilities have lacked a workable point-source carbon capture solution at the heat source. Mantel Capture, a Massachusetts-based company that spun out of MIT in 2022, uses a molten-borate system that integrates directly into steam generation equipment rather than treating emissions downstream. Wood, a global engineering and operations firm with 33,000 people across approximately 50 countries, is now leading front-end engineering design (FEED) for Mantel's first commercial project at a SAGD facility in Western Canada. The project is expected to capture approximately 60,000 metric tons of CO2 per year while producing approximately 150,000 metric tons of high-pressure steam annually for operations.

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Why Has SAGD Been One of the Hardest Industrial Processes to Decarbonize?

SAGD operations in the Canadian oil sands are among the most carbon-intensive industrial processes in North America, and carbon capture has not been technically or economically viable at the heat source until now. The process works by injecting high-pressure steam underground to heat bitumen to the point where it flows. Steam generation, the step that burns large volumes of natural gas to produce that steam, is the largest single source of CO2 emissions at any SAGD facility.

Conventional carbon capture systems are designed to treat flue gas after it exits the heat source. That means cooling hot gas, running it through amine solvents, releasing the CO2 by reheating the solvent, then reheating the process gas again. Every cooling and reheating step consumes energy, and in an already energy-intensive operation like SAGD, that penalty has made downstream carbon capture economically unworkable at scale.

The result has been a persistent gap: dozens of carbon capture technologies designed for power plants or cement facilities, but nothing purpose-built to capture CO2 at the fired equipment stage inside an oil sands operation. Mantel's approach targets exactly that gap.

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How Does Mantel's Molten-Borate Technology Work Inside the Heat Source?

Mantel's system uses molten-borate salts that remain liquid at temperatures between 500°C and 800°C, the operating range found inside most industrial boilers and furnaces, to capture CO2 directly at the point of combustion rather than downstream. That temperature range is key. Conventional amine-based systems require gas to be cooled to absorb CO2, then reheated to release it. Mantel's molten-borate material operates within the existing thermal environment, capturing CO2 without any cooling and reheating cycle.

When the molten borate absorbs CO2, it releases high-grade heat. That heat is recovered directly and used to regenerate the material and produce high-pressure steam. The result is a closed thermal loop that produces approximately 150,000 metric tons of high-pressure steam per year at the Western Canada SAGD facility, steam that feeds directly back into oil extraction operations. Instead of paying an energy penalty for carbon capture, operators receive a useful steam co-product.

Mantel reports that its system reduces energy losses by 97% compared to conventional carbon capture approaches and operates at less than half the industry-average cost per metric ton. In commercial applications, the company targets a 95% CO2 capture rate, with potential to reach 98%.

Mantel was founded in 2022 by Cameron Halliday, Danielle Rapson, and Sean Robertson as a spinout from the Hatton Research Group in MIT's Department of Chemical Engineering. The technology originated from experiments with high-temperature sorbents, where the research team discovered that sodium borate salts remained liquid at high temperatures. That liquid-phase behavior gives the material fundamentally different properties from solid sorbents, including resistance to the degradation that has historically made high-temperature solid carbon capture materials impractical at industrial scale.

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What Role Is Wood Playing, and Why Does It Matter for Scale?

Wood is acting as lead integrator for the FEED study, providing fired equipment design and leading the overall engineering scope at the Western Canada SAGD facility. Under the MOU, Mantel has designated Wood as its preferred technology provider for fired equipment integration across all future commercial deployments, not just this project.

Integrating a new capture technology into operating SAGD infrastructure, including boilers, gas turbines, and once-through steam generators (OTSGs), without disrupting production requires deep knowledge of how those systems run under real-world conditions. Wood, with 33,000 professionals operating across approximately 50 countries, brings that operational depth alongside its fired equipment engineering expertise.

Wood's role extends beyond this first project. The preferred provider designation for fired equipment integration means Wood is positioned to replicate this work as Mantel deploys across oil and gas, power generation, pulp and paper, and chemical sectors. That structure, with an established engineering partner embedded across the commercial rollout from the start, significantly reduces the execution risk associated with scaling a first-of-kind technology into multiple new facilities.

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What Is the Path from FEED to Commercial Operations?

FEED runs through 2026, according to Mantel CEO Cameron Halliday. After FEED completes, the project moves to final investment decision (FID). Commercial deployment typically requires approximately 18 months from FID to become operational, Halliday confirmed to gasworld in May 2026.

Stage	Timeframe	Description
Front-End Engineering Design (FEED)	Active through 2026	Wood leads integration of Mantel system into SAGD fired equipment; execution-ready design produced
Final Investment Decision (FID)	Post-FEED, 2026	Full project sanction and financing commitment required before construction begins
Construction and Commissioning	Approximately 18 months post-FID	System integrated into existing SAGD operations at Western Canada facility
Commercial Operations (est.)	Subject to FID timing	60,000 metric tons CO2 captured annually; 150,000 metric tons high-pressure steam produced per year

The timeline from MIT spinout in 2022 to a potential operational commercial facility represents a fast track for a first-of-kind industrial carbon capture technology. The FEED process itself is critical: it converts Mantel's molten-borate chemistry into a fully engineered, execution-ready system with defined costs, procurement timelines, and integration specifications.

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How Does the Capture Rate Compare to What the Industry Has Delivered?

Mantel targets 95% CO2 capture in commercial applications at the Western Canada SAGD facility, with a pathway to reach 98%, according to gasworld reporting from May 2026. Many operational CCS systems in heavy industry run at capture rates in the range of 85% to 90%. The gap between 90% and 95% is not trivial: at 60,000 metric tons captured per year, every additional percentage point of capture rate represents a meaningful increase in CO2 removed from the atmosphere and in carbon credit value generated for the operator.

The 97% reduction in energy losses is the other number that matters for the economics. Conventional amine-based capture systems carry a significant energy penalty, typically consuming steam that would otherwise serve production. Mantel's system does the opposite: it produces approximately 150,000 metric tons of high-pressure steam per year at this facility as a co-product of capture. That steam goes directly back into SAGD operations, offsetting fuel costs and improving the overall energy balance of the facility.

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What Does This Project Mean for the Broader Oil Sands Sector?

The Western Canada SAGD project represents a 30-times scale-up from Mantel's first demonstration, a system at Kruger Inc.'s Wayagamack pulp and paper mill in Quebec designed to capture 2,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. Getting from 2,000 to 60,000 metric tons at a qualitatively different kind of industrial site is the central technical and commercial proof point Mantel needs to unlock broader deployment across the oil sands sector.

Mantel is backed by Shell Ventures, Eni Next, and bp Ventures, investors with direct operational stakes in the kinds of heavy industrial facilities this technology targets. That investor base provides more than capital: it represents direct channels into the oil and gas, refining, and chemicals sectors where SAGD-style fired equipment operates at scale.

The broader CCS market in Canada is also accelerating. Alberta's CCS infrastructure is expanding, with the province's first commercial CCS hub now operational and policy frameworks including the federal CCUS Investment Tax Credit providing financial support for projects that meet eligibility criteria. Mantel's SAGD capture project sits at the intersection of available policy support and a hard-to-abate sector that has lacked a credible technical solution at the heat source. FEED completion and a positive FID will determine whether that intersection translates into the first operating point-source capture system at a SAGD steam generator.

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