A 5,000 tonne per annum lithium carbonate facility using direct lithium extraction on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Gen 5 ion exchange technology extracts lithium directly from brine without large evaporation ponds.
PilotStage 3 of 5
FID targeted for late 2026; construction and first production 2027.
Updated Aug 2026·Checked 10 Oct·0 updates this week
Milestones
Next · Final investment decision
Pilot operations completed, 87% recovery demonstrated2025Complete.
Hatch selected as EPCM partnerJun 2026Complete.
JordProxa selected for downstream conversionJul 2026Complete.
Final investment decisionTarget 2026Current milestone.
Construction beginsTarget 2026Not yet reached.
First lithium productionTarget 2027Not yet reached.
Capital intensity of plant constructionBuilding a first-of-its-kind facility at scale requires EPCM and technology partners to share risk and expertise.
Market acceptance of new supplySecuring offtake agreements before FID is critical to prove demand and secure financing.
Physics limits
Lithium concentration trade-offLower-concentration brines require more processing volume per tonne of lithium, raising cost and energy use.
Scale of ion exchange resin productionSourcing and manufacturing enough resin media to support multiple large facilities is a supply chain constraint.
How it works
3 parts
Extraction
Ion exchange resin captures lithium
Proprietary ion exchange media selectively captures lithium ions from brine, concentrating them for recovery.
Brine return
Spent brine goes back to source
After lithium removal, brine is returned to its source; no large evaporation ponds or water loss.
Conversion
Lithium converted to carbonate
Recovered lithium sulfate is converted to battery-grade lithium carbonate through evaporation, purification and crystallization.
Lilac develops direct lithium extraction using ion exchange. Its Gen 5 technology works on various brine types and concentrations. Commercial facility on Great Salt Lake targets 5,000 tpa lithium carbonate by 2027.
Lilac's Great Salt Lake facility targets 5,000 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate by 2027, doubling U.S. production.
The company signed a binding 10-year offtake agreement with Traxys covering 100% of Phase 1 production.
A $100M DOE award and strategic partnerships with Hatch (engineering) and JordProxa (downstream conversion) de-risk construction.
