Princeton Critical Minerals (PCM) has raised $16 million in combined equity and non-dilutive funding to expand commercial deployment of its lithium-production technologies in the US and South America.
The Princeton University spinout is developing technology intended to improve lithium production from mineral-rich brines. PCM says its platform can increase throughput while reducing energy use and chemical consumption during processing.
The system uses evaporation enhancement and selective crystallization to improve lithium concentration and recovery from existing brine operations. PCM is also developing monitoring technology for evaporation ponds to improve process control during production.
The technology is relevant to electric vehicles (EVs) because lithium remains a key material in lithium-ion batteries. PCM’s work is not specific to EVs, but expanding lithium recovery from brine could increase the supply of battery material available for EV and energy-storage applications.
PCM recently deployed its Lilypad technology at an operating lithium site in Chile. The system has been integrated into existing commercial evaporation ponds, moving the technology from pilot testing into an active production environment.
The company is also field-testing additional technologies in Chile focused on evaporation performance and process optimization.
PCM is preparing commercial deployments in the US and plans to use the new funding to scale manufacturing and expand deployment of its lithium-production platform.
Filed Under: Batteries, Technology News