Slashing CO2Clean, fast, cheap lithium mining.
Big Picture
Rising adoption of electric vehicles is expected to drive up lithium demand 6x in the next decade. Yet, today, lithium mining is slow, expensive, and geographically constrained. It has the added downside of being environmentally destructive, wrecking landscapes above ground and under. To avoid shortages that slow down deployment of EVs, industry needs to multiply supply, and do so with smaller energy, water, and land use footprints.
How It Works
Lilac has developed direct lithium extraction technology using ion exchange beads that extract lithium from low-concentration brines without evaporation ponds. Using these specially designed beads, they are able to recover high-purity lithium cheaper, faster, and with 99% less land and water use than conventional extraction methods. Their modular extraction technology also operates at ambient temperature, reducing process CO₂ emissions along with opex.
Unfair Advantage
Compared with conventional lithium extraction processes, Lilac’s technology is 5000x faster and recovers 2x more resources at a 50% lower cost. Factor in Lilac’s IP that enables the extraction of resources inaccessible by conventional extraction processes, and they are uniquely positioned to tap into lithium resources no one else in the world profitably can — including at resources stateside like Utah’s Great Salt Lake.
0.5
Gigatons of CO₂e
potentially avoided per year by 2030
DAVID SNYDACKER CTO & FOUNDER
Dave is a materials engineer and expert in battery technology. He holds a PhD in Materials Science from Northwestern University.
RAEF SULLY CEO
Raef is a senior executive in the mining & chemicals industries, previously leading Nutrien’s Nitrogen and Phosphate businesses.
DAVID GELINAS CFO
David previously helped take smart energy storage company Stem, Inc. public as its VP of Finance & Business Operations.
Lilac raises $150 million for sustainable lithium extraction technology
CNBC
Lithium crisis threatens electric car boom after 500% surge
Bloomberg
Lithium prices soar, turbocharged by electric-vehicle demand and scant supply
The Wall Street Journal