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Lithios, a developer of electrochemical lithium extraction technology, has secured $12 million in funding to expand its Advanced Lithium Extraction (ALE) platform. The funding round, led by Clean Energy Ventures, aims to scale R&D, manufacturing, and operations, allowing Lithios to accelerate lithium carbonate production to meet growing global demand for electric vehicles and energy storage. Lithios’s ALE technology offers an efficient way to extract lithium from untapped brine deposits, significantly reducing energy requirements.
Key Highlights:
- $10 million seed financing led by Clean Energy Ventures, with contributions from TechEnergy Ventures, GS Futures, Lowercarbon Capital, and MassCEC.
- $2 million in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank.
- Lithios’s Advanced Lithium Extraction technology extracts more than 85% of untapped lithium with tenfold reduction in energy compared to existing methods.
- Addresses lithium shortage concerns with scalable, cost-effective solutions for low-grade brine deposits.
Lithium, a crucial material for the energy transition, is expected to face a global shortage by 2025. The demand for lithium carbonate is projected to reach 7 million tons by 2040, far exceeding current supply levels. Lithios’s ALE technology aims to address this by providing a scalable solution for extracting lithium from deposits that have been difficult to process with existing methods.
The funding will be used to expand Lithios’s R&D efforts, manufacturing capabilities, and the development of commercial projects capable of producing thousands of tons of lithium carbonate annually. This effort is crucial as lithium resource owners face challenges such as infrastructure constraints in remote areas and a lack of affordable processing technologies for high-contaminant sources.
Lithios’s technology allows the extraction of lithium from brine deposits previously considered uneconomical due to contaminant profiles and resource constraints. By using an electrochemical process, the ALE platform reduces energy consumption by ten times compared to conventional direct lithium extraction (DLE) methods, making it a more sustainable option.
Daniel Goldman, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Clean Energy Ventures, stated, “Today’s lithium extraction approaches are not only environmentally taxing but produce at a quantity insufficient to meet growing demand from the EV market.” He further emphasized the scalability and efficiency of Lithios’s approach, noting its potential to solve challenges across the lithium value chain.
Lithios’s ALE technology, developed by MIT scientists and engineers, unlocks more than 85% of known but currently inaccessible lithium brine sources. This makes the process for low-grade brines up to twice as cost-effective as other emerging methods, offering a sustainable solution for the future of lithium extraction.
Mo Alkhadra, PhD, Lithios Co-founder & CEO, highlighted the importance of transforming the lithium extraction process, stating, “If we want to electrify our world, we must start with electrifying the lithium extraction process.” With this funding, Lithios is well-positioned to support the growing demand for lithium in the electric vehicle and energy sectors, contributing to a more sustainable and efficient future.
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