#39 Lilac Solutions
Revolutionizing lithium extraction to make it sustainable
Read time: 5 minutes
Hi, I’m Javi Gascón.
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Today we’ll distill a company that’s transforming salt water reserves into battery-grade lithium, faster and greener: Lilac Solutions
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What Problem Does Lilac Solutions Tackle❓
Currently the biggest lithium reserves are found in brines (massive natural salt water deposits). The conventional process for extracting lithium from brines uses evaporation ponds.
Lilac Solutions tackles the problem of inefficient and environmentally unsustainable lithium extraction of the current method.
What’s wrong with it?
1. Low Recovery Rates: Traditional methods using evaporation ponds can only recover about 40% of the lithium from brine resources.
2. High Water Consumption: Conventional processes require massive amounts of water and land, leading to significant environmental impacts, particularly in water-scarce regions.
3. Energy Intensity: Traditional methods consume a lot of energy, contributing to high greenhouse gas emissions.
4. Impurity Issues: Existing technologies struggle to reject impurities, which are often high in U.S. resources, making the process inefficient.
5. Environmental Damage: The use of evaporation ponds has devastating effects on local water resources and ecosystems.
It’s a critical metal for EV batteries and we are clearly not obtaining it in a good way. Until now…
Product / Service 📦
Lilac Solutions offers a modern lithium extraction technology based on ion exchange (IX) that significantly improves the extraction of lithium production from brine resources.
They pump lithium-rich brine directly from underground sources through specialized columns containing proprietary ion exchange beads. The beads selectively absorb lithium from the brine while leaving other minerals behind. They can be reused multiple times without degrading.
Just look at the benefits:
High Efficiency: Recovers 70-98% of lithium, far exceeding the 40-50% recovery rate of traditional methods.
Low Environmental Impact: Eliminates the need for evaporation ponds, reducing freshwater consumption, land use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Fast Processing: Extracts lithium in a matter of hours, rather than 18-24 months required by traditional evaporation pond methods!
Scalability: Can be deployed across various brine chemistries, enabling the efficient extraction of lithium from previously sub-economic resources.
High efficiency, minimal cost, and low environmental impact. Basically, a game-changer in lithium extraction.
Market 🌐
The global lithium market was valued at approximately $6.3 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow significantly, driven by a 10x increase in lithium demand by the end of the decade.
Think about all the EVs coming to market and the amount of renewable energy storage we’re going to have. We need lithium for all of that!
Other Key Players
EnergyX 🇺🇸: Develops advanced technologies for lithium extraction from brine resources, focusing on sustainable and cost-effective methods to meet growing demand.
KoBold Metals 🇺🇸: Uses machine learning and geophysical techniques to discover and extract critical metals, including lithium, with a focus on sustainability and efficiency.
Founding Story 🦄
Lilac Solutions was solo founded in 2016 by Dave Snydacker, a materials engineer and expert in battery technology. Snydacker, who holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, was driven by the need to solve the critical issue of lithium extraction for the booming EV industry.
Snydacker later added Nick Goldberg to the team. They met while studying at Wesleyan University. Goldberg, who became Lilac's Chief Operating Officer, brought his corporate law experience to the company. In 2019, they were introduced to Tom Wilson, who joined as Chief Development Officer, bringing his extensive experience from the oil and gas industry.
In 2020 they raised a $20 million Series A funding round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates’ fund) and they have raised more than $315 million to date…
Top Impact Stats 📈
Lilac's technology uses 10x less freshwater than traditional aluminum absorbents and completely eliminates the need for evaporation ponds.
Their projects require tens of acres, compared to traditional evaporation ponds which can cover up to 10,000 acres.
Nearly doubles the recovery rate compared to most traditional brine production methods.
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