Vale Ventures, Vale's Corporate Venture Capital initiative, has announced an investment in the startup Mantel, which is based in Boston (USA) and owns an innovative carbon capture technology. The aim is to support the development of the startup, whose technology has the potential to contribute to the decarbonization of heavy industry, including the mining and steel sectors.

The minority investment took place as part of Mantel's US$ 30 million Series A round, making it the third investment announced by Vale Ventures, which in 2022 committed capital of US$100 million to be invested in the development of disruptive solutions for the mining and metals chain.

Founded in 2022 at the Chemical Engineering Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Mantel will use the funding raised to implement a demonstration plant with the capacity to capture 1,800 tons of CO2 emissions per year, paving the way for full-scale commercial deployment of high-temperature carbon capture systems. The company’s technology has already demonstrated carbon capture at lab scale of half a ton per day.

“Mantel's carbon capture technology, when it becomes available, could make zero-emission iron and steel production feasible, even with the use of natural gas as an energy source in the direct reduction route,” explains Bruno Arcadier, head of Vale Ventures. “It's yet another option for decarbonizing the mining and metals chain.”

Carbon capture involves collecting CO2 produced from large sources such as power plants, refineries and other industrial facilities. The captured CO2 is then compressed, transported and used for a variety of applications or stored underground, preventing its release into the atmosphere.

Mantel leverages molten borates, the only high-temperature liquid-phase material capable of carbon capture, to capture CO2 at the source of emission, reducing capture costs by more than half compared to conventional amine-based carbon capture technologies. As more carbon capture equipment is installed, it is expected this will prompt more investment in infrastructure, further driving down costs of carbon capture, transport and storage.

Vale Ventures

Announced in June 2022, Vale Ventures has committed US$100 million in capital for investments in pioneering technology startups around the world. In addition to Mantel, the initiative has already announced the acquisition of stakes in Boston Metal, a startup that develops solutions for decarbonizing steel production, and Allonnia, a transformational biology startup.

Vale Ventures looks  to work with and support startups focused on four themes related to sustainable mining:

• Decarbonization in the mining value chain. Investing in technologies that help Vale and its customers reduce carbon emissions, supporting the company's ambition to become net-zero by 2050;
   
• Circular mining. Reducing waste and the environmental impact of mining processes, contributing to a circular economy and generating new revenue streams;
   
• Sustainable mining of the future. Investing in new technologies that will change the way mining companies run their businesses;
   
• Energy transition metals. Accelerating the sector's ability to supply essential metals for the energy transition and emerging sources of demand.

By assembling a portfolio of disruptive solutions, Vale Ventures hopes to generate financial and strategic returns that benefit Vale, its customers and society.

To find out more and submit ideas, entrepreneurs should visit https://vale.com/vale-ventures.