LiPhera develops electrodialysis technology that extracts lithium from waste batteries and natural resources, helping battery recyclers improve profit margins and streamline downstream processing. The company's proprietary membrane innovations achieve over 90% single-pass lithium extraction with no reagent consumptionholistic. Its compact unit integrates early in the black mass treatment process, separating lithium from nickel, cobalt, and other metals to simplify recycling plant operations.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Battery recycling is economically challenging because extracting lithium from black mass—the shredded material from spent batteries—is costly and inefficient. Existing methods consume reagents and complicate downstream processing, eroding recyclers' profit margins and limiting the scale of domestic recycling operations.
Solution
LiPhera provides a compact electrodialysis unit that integrates early in the battery black mass treatment process to selectively extract lithium. The technology leverages proprietary membrane innovations that deliver 10x to 100x better selectivity than commercial membranes, enabling over 90% lithium recovery in a single pass without reagent consumption. By separating lithium from nickel, cobalt, and other metals upfront, LiPhera simplifies downstream processing and significantly reduces overall process costs. The low-energy electrodialysis architecture operates with a mild electric field and resists scaling, making it suitable for industrial deployment.
Target Audience
Primary customers are battery recyclers seeking to improve profit margins and expand domestic recycling capacity, as well as lithium producers and industrial operators needing selective lithium separation from complex streams.
Features
- Selective electrodialysis membranes with 10x to 100x improved selectivity compared to commercial alternatives
- Single-pass lithium extraction efficiency exceeding 90%, eliminating the need for reagent consumption
- Low-energy architecture with a mild electric field designed to resist membrane scaling
- Compact unit that integrates early in the black mass treatment workflow, separating lithium from nickel, cobalt, and other metals
- Applicable to battery recycling, primary lithium production impurity removal, and lithium extraction from industrial streams