Molten Salt Takes Aim at Oil Sands Carbon

Mantel and Wood sign an MOU to deploy molten-salt CO₂ capture at an Alberta SAGD site, targeting 60,000 tonnes annually

26 May 2026

Carbon capture has long struggled inside oil sands operations, not for want of ambition, but because conventional systems fight the heat rather than use it. On May 19, 2026, Mantel and Wood signed a Memorandum of Understanding to test a different logic, deploying molten-borate salt technology directly inside the steam generators that drive Alberta's in-situ bitumen production. Steam generation, at these facilities, is the single largest source of CO₂ emissions.

Wood has been named Mantel's preferred technology partner for fired equipment integration and is delivering front-end engineering design for a steam-assisted gravity drainage facility in western Canada, Mantel's first commercial project. The system, once operational, is designed to capture roughly 60,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year while co-producing 150,000 tonnes of high-pressure steam, restructuring the economics of carbon capture in heavy industrial settings.

Unlike conventional systems, Mantel's molten-borate salts operate at the extreme temperatures already present inside boilers and once-through steam generators, bypassing the costly cycle of cooling flue gas, extracting carbon, and reheating the output for industrial use. The integration eliminates added steps rather than working around them. "By integrating carbon capture directly into the heat source, we are changing the equation entirely," said Richard Spires, Global Director at Wood. Mantel CEO Cameron Halliday has said that success in heavy industry demands solutions built around continuous operational realities, not chemistry alone.

Broader policy pressure sharpens the commercial case. Under the Canada-Alberta Implementation Agreement finalized earlier this month, industrial carbon pricing will rise to $130 per tonne by 2035, steadily raising the cost of unabated emissions for in-situ producers. Modular, site-deployable capture that integrates with existing steam infrastructure offers a credible path for operators not yet connected to large shared carbon transport networks.

Additional deployments across power generation and manufacturing are already in development. With engineering design underway and the partnership formalized, the results could shape investment decisions across Canada's industrial carbon sector for years ahead.