Danielle Colson
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Mantel Capture, Inc.
Danielle joins Breakthrough Energy’s Innovator Fellows program from Mantel Capture, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts. Her interests lie at the intersection of energy and engineering, and she uses her expertise in operations to bring the organization’s many moving business and development pieces together. At Mantel, Danielle and her colleagues are working to revolutionize carbon capture and storage with molten borates, a patented new material that has the potential tosubstantially reduce costs and energy losses relative to incumbent technologies.
Mantel’s patented solution is designed to operate at the high temperatures found inside boilers, kilns, and furnaces. The approach captures carbon dioxide at high temperatures, increasing efficiency by recovering heat in the carbon capture process. Once scaled, this process can be used in any high temperature industrial process—such as cement and steel production—to help hard-to-abate sectors achieve net-zero emissions. Through the program, she hopes to advance Mantel’s technology to a stage where they are ready to scale commercially.
Danielle is based in Florida and holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School as well as a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University. Prior to business school, she spent five years managing operations and maintenance at natural gas power plants for NextEra Energy.
Q&A
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given??
The best piece of advice I have been given was from my first boss at a power plant. It has proven to be relevant in both my professional and personal life. I was a new, young, female engineer trying to earn respect at a plant filled with older, experienced, men. His advice to me was before I asked anyone for help, to figure out how I could help them. When I took over my first plant, this helped me earn respect quickly amongst the team by figuring out how I could help them -ordering new uniforms, buying an additional coffee maker, etc. -before then asking for their help in turning the plant around. This advice has paid off time and time again in my career and made me a much better leader.
What do you like to do in your free time?
In my free time I enjoy reading, exercising, and volunteering in my community. I specifically work with a program called Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) which advocates for foster children in the court system and other programs to mentor teenagers aging out of foster care.
What’s a fun fact about yourself?
I won $1,000 on a radio show when I was 10 years old.
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