This industrial spin-off extracts lithium from brine to meet growing demand for batteries

The world needs lithium to power its electric future, but getting it is an expensive and dirty business. Wastewater unicorn Gradiant thinks there might be a better solution and has just launched a new company to prove it.

LIthium is extremely important to the electrification of vehicles worldwide, with a single car’s battery requiring more than 17 pounds of it. But mining and processing this essential mineral is both expensive and environmentally damaging – and the United States relies heavily on China for its supply.

“The demand for lithium is crazy,” said Prakash Govindan, co-founder and COO of wastewater treatment startup Gradiant. “We believe we can create a billion-dollar business just from the lithium business, but we are only in the early stages of revenue.”

To meet this demand, Gradiant, which cleans wastewater on an industrial scale, is launching a new company, called alkaLi. Instead of mining rock, the self-driving company plans to extract lithium from brine – extremely salty water naturally found in various regions – and process it for use in batteries using a technique that she developed. It hopes to raise $15 million to $20 million, including from Gradiant itself, which will retain a stake in the company, and eventually hire a new CEO to run it, Govindan said..

“We think we can create a billion-dollar business just from the lithium business.”

The new lithium business is an offshoot of Gradiant’s core business in industrial wastewater treatment, where the company works with major clients including semiconductor giants TSMC and Micron, pharmaceutical manufacturers Pfizer and GSK , Coca-Cola and the mining company Rio Tinto. The company, which has raised more than $400 million, including from billionaire John Arnold’s Centaurus Capital, reached a billion-dollar valuation last year, the rare water tech startup to achieve this goal. Gradiant’s revenue reached $150 million last year and is expected to reach $350 million this year. The lithium business currently has four commercial customers and represents “less than 10%” of Gradiant’s revenue, Govindan said.

Govindan, 40, and Anurag Bajpayee, 39 and the company’s CEO, started the company in 2012 based on water purification research they had done during their Ph.D. students at MIT. Today, the company has more than 1,000 facilities for water treatment, “forever chemicals” or PFAS removal, and lithium extraction. Gradiant developed the lithium business in partnership with oil services giant SLB, both an investor and customer. SLB (formerly Schlumberger) has implemented a pilot project at its Nevada facilities in 2023.

The process uses resins and membranes to more easily extract lithium from brine, then relies on its own technology to concentrate the mineral, which is ultimately precipitated into a solid for use in batteries. (This is a similar process to making rock candy from sugar water, although it has many more complicated steps.)

“In my opinion, the United States can produce all the lithium it needs itself and be independent of China. »

The company said its lithium extraction process is faster and better for the environment, with reduced impact on carbon and water, compared to traditional extraction methods. Its operating costs are also 50% lower than other methods of extracting lithium from brine, Govindan said, which typically rely on evaporation ponds to slowly allow the lithium to concentrate. “Mining is a very important application in general for Gradiant, but lithium is special,” Govindan said. “We are experts in concentrating and converting lithium-rich brines into lithium carbonate. »

A long-term benefit could be less reliance on China for this critical mineral. “In my opinion, the United States can produce all the lithium it needs itself and be independent of China,” said Ashok Belani, who worked with Gradiant on the project as executive vice president of new energies of SLB, then principal strategic advisor of SLB. before retiring from the company in March. But, he added, it could take a decade to launch 10 projects producing 10,000 tons of lithium per year, because large industrial projects like this can take five or six years each to develop. “It’s a big deal,” he said. “If it’s feasible, then the world won’t have a lithium problem.”

Global lithium consumption reached 134,000 tonnes in 2022, an increase of 41% from 95,000 tonnes in 2021, according to data from the US Geological Survey. Although lithium prices have fallen over the past year, in part due to slowing growth in electric vehicle sales in China, long-term demand is expected to increase. By 2030, more than 60% of new vehicles sold in the United States are expected to be plug-in or hybrid vehicles, according to data from the public-private partnership Li-Bridge.

Starting the business while prices are low may seem counterintuitive, but it offers an advantage, Govindan said. “There are products that are prepared in anticipation of a price increase, there is a demand for this technology, and it is difficult to introduce it at the highest prices during a gold rush .”

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