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Mo Alkhadra drop age of his life work out out how to take troublesome material like toxic lead and radioactive waste from water . But as he progressed along his doctorate studies at MIT , he agnize that if he wanted to get his engineering to grocery , he ’d require to do something other than build a better Brita .
“ We terminate up talking to large corporates that had interest in that knowledge domain , ” Alkhadra told TechCrunch . But , he added , “ I had been monish to some extent by investors and other stakeholder in the industriousness that it would be a very challenging quad to pursue from a commercial enterprise viewpoint . ”
So instead , Alkhadra changed his centering . Rather than hear to deliver sportsmanlike water and discard undesired contaminants , he ’d recoup worthful minerals locked in water from man-made lake deep underground . Alkhadra ’s startup , Lithios , is starting with lithium , a vital mineral that ’s in high demand as the automotive industry transitions to electric vehicle .
Today , most Li is either mined or catch by evaporating brackish water on vast salt flatbed , most of which are in Andean South America . But extract atomic number 3 in those way of life is expensive , slow , and geographically restrict .
In response , a fresh craw of startup is endeavor to meet the booming need for Li , specially lithium that can be minedfrom sustainable source . In plus to Lithios , company likeLilac SolutionsandEnergyXare all rushing to become the go - to atomic number 3 beginning for automakers and battery manufacturers . They all extract Li from briny water drawn from below the Earth ’s surface , though they take on the problem of separating metal from water in different ways .
Lithios ’ approach is similar to the way that lithium - ion batteries work . Inside one , lithium ions are nestled inside the anode , where they are put in like playscript on a ledge . As the assault and battery charge or discharge , those ion flow back and forward between the two pole , each time nuzzle themselves in the nooks of the anode or cathode , which are made from materials known as intercalation compounds .
In Lithios ’ setup , briny , lithium - rich body of water flows past electrified intercalation compounds . Which ones ? Alkhadra would n’t disclose . “ We employ cheap , abundant textile that are bang to work for lithium , ” he said . “ I do n’t want to tell the specific chemistry yet , but these are assault and battery chemical compound which are in reality used in atomic number 3 - ion battery today . They are scalable , easily manufacturable , have robust supplying chains . ”
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In Lithios ’ equipment , those chemical compound act like a leech , absorbing Li and brush aside other clobber that ’s resolve in the water . When the sponge is full , Lithios drains the brackish water , turns on a fresh water supply tap , and reverses the process . Li flows out from the sponge and into the fresh pee .
“ The lithium that gets let go of into a clear piddle solution is a very concentrated , purified resolution that is readily convert into assault and battery powder , ” Alkhadra said .
The entire mental process was designed to minimise water consumption . The stay on briny pee is injected back into the land , and much of the water in the “ release ” step can be reused , he added . “ I spring up up in Saudi Arabia , a very desiccate , dry realm . ”
Lithios lately raised $ 10 million in source backing , the party exclusively told TechCrunch . The round was direct by Clean Energy Ventures with participation from GS Futures , Lowercarbon Capital , MassCEC , and TechEnergy Ventures . The company also raise $ 2 million in speculation debt through Silicon Valley Bank to purchase manufacture and processing equipment .
The infusion will help the caller scale its system from a low bench - top research laboratory experiment to a suitcase - sized pilot that it can take out to the field to quiz brines in the wild . Lithios has essay 16 different seawater from North America , South America , and Europe , Alkhadra said .
“ We ’re probably one scale leaf - up point behind the ultimate vision of throw a icebox - sized system , ” he said . “ The organization from there on would be replicated in a modular way to go for big commercial task make thousands of tons of lithium carbonate . Not propose that that ’s going to occur in a twelvemonth or two , but we ’re working toward that in the next couple of years . ”
