Slashing CO2Clean, fast, cheap lithium mining.
Big Picture
The rapid growth of electric vehicles is expected to drive up lithium demand 6x in the next decade. Today, lithium mining is slow, expensive, and geographically constrained. Some mines have even proven harmful to their local environments. To avoid shortages that slow down deployment of EVs, industry needs to unlock materially more supply, and do so with much cleaner energy and water footprints.
How it Works
Lilac’s ion-exchange beads 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 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 vertically integrate, putting them on a course to become the world’s largest lithium producer within a decade.
0.5
Gigatons of CO2
potentially avoided per year by 2030
DAVID SNYDACKER CEO & FOUNDER
Dave is a materials engineer and expert in battery technology. He holds a PhD from Northwestern University.
Follow: @dsnydacker
TOM WILSON CDO
Tom has 15 years of upstream oil and gas experience. At Hess Corporation, Tom executed on large scale projects across five continents.
NICK GOLDBERG COO
Nick previously spent five years advising institutional clients on high-value, complex corporate transactions at Debevoise & Plimpton.
Bill Gates-Led Fund Invests in Making Lithium Mining More Sustainable
Bloomberg
Protecting fragile ecosystems from lithium mining
BBC
Lithium start-up backed by Bill Gates seeks a breakthrough at the Salton Sea
Los Angeles Times
Bill Gates-backed fund leads $20m investment into lithium start-up
Financial Times