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STATUS Current
FUND Technology

Lilac Solutions is a lithium extraction technology company based in Oakland, California founded in 2016.  Lilac’s mission is to scale global lithium production to support the electric vehicle industry and energy transition.

Lithium, a unique metal element has characteristics that cannot be replicated by other metals which has made it irreplaceable for the high-energy batteries that power our modern and increasingly electrified lifestyle in everything from mobile cellphones, to electric vehicles and even renewable energy utility scale energy storage solutions.

As a result, lithium has become essential for the global energy transition – its high energy density means fewer battery cells and smaller physical footprint than some more traditional alternatives translating to reduced costs for both electric vehicle and power grid applications.  Around the world, vehicle manufacturers are converting product portfolios to purely electric vehicles –  great news for the urban environment and the planet but demanding a 30 fold increase in lithium supply.

Most of the world’s lithium reserves are found in brines – natural deposits of salt water – and these potentially contain enough lithium to power the world.  However, efforts to increase production from brines has been challenged by environmental and technical problems.  The conventional extraction process requires large evaporation ponds that are environmentally damaging, slow to start up, and vulnerable to weather. This process suffers from low lithium recovery, low product purity, and is ineffective for most new brine discoveries with lower grades of lithium.

Lilac Solutions Inc.,  has developed and patented an innovative new ion exchange technology to extract lithium from brines without the need for these evaporation ponds. Their technology respects the environment while also accelerating project development, increasing recovery, and ultimately yielding a high-purity product.  Ion exchange chemistry is already successfully deployed in a variety of water treatment and metals processing applications, but has never been effectively applied to lithium, until now. Lilac’s new ion exchange unlocks this powerful technology for the lithium industry.

In September 2021, the JIMCO Technology Fund participated in Lilac’s Series B funding round.

Series B Sep 2021
FOUNDING TEAM
  • David Snydacker
    Founder & Chief Executive Officer
PARTNERS
  • Nick Goldberg
    Chief Operating Officer
  • Tom Wilson
    Chief Development Officer
FOUNDED
website

Lilac Solutions produces its ion exchange beads and delivers these to brine projects worldwide. The beads are loaded into tanks through which brine flows, and as the it percolates through the beads, they absorb lithium out of the brine. Once the beads are saturated with lithium, hydrochloric acid is used to flush out the lithium, yielding lithium chloride – the standard intermediary in every lithium brine project today. The lithium chloride is then processed conventionally processed on-site to yield a finished product – lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide – which is sold to battery manufacturers.

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October 10, 2024
Lilac Solutions

Great Salt Lake Series Post 3: Mechanical Completion & ...

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September 2, 2024
Lilac Solutions

Michelle Ma’s article in Bloomberg underscores the mark...

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July 18, 2024
Lilac Solutions

ICYMI, Lilac recently unveiled its latest Gen 4 technol...

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July 2, 2024
Lilac Solutions

Exciting times ahead for the lithium industry! This wee...

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May 22, 2024
Lilac Solutions

“The world needs more lithium to get through the energy

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April 1, 2024
Lilac Solutions

Last night, Lilac was recognized as a leader in innovat...

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January 4, 2024
Lilac Solutions

Lilac CEO David Snydacker spoke with Axios about the co...

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January 4, 2024
Lilac Solutions

We’re excited to announce the successful completion of ...

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August 4, 2023
Lilac Solutions

The US Department of Energy just released its 2023 crit...

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January 12, 2023
Lilac Solutions

The Lilac team is very excited to ship these first

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December 8, 2022
Lilac Solutions

Lithium supply has become the primary bottleneck in the...

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November 16, 2022
Lilac Solutions

Lilac featured in a16z’s list of companies kickstarting...

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October 20, 2022
Lilac Solutions

Lilac Solutions Selected by U.S. Department of Energy f...

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August 29, 2022
Lilac Solutions

Lilac CEO speaks to CNN about EV supply chain

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July 28, 2022
Lilac Solutions

Lilac’s work with Lake Resources on the Kachi brine pro...

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June 20, 2022
Lilac Solutions

Lilac Solutions Advances in Bolivian Lithium Extraction...

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April 28, 2022
Lilac Solutions

WSJ story out today. New lithium extraction technology ...

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April 28, 2022
Lilac Solutions

Lilac CEO David Snydacker spoke with Marketplace about ...

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