Licube wants to be the fuel provider to the fusion power industry — see how at TechCrunch Disrupt
Licube is developing a way to extract and purify lithium-6, a scarce form of lithium that could help fusion power plants make their own tritium fuel. Its technology aims to address a potential bottleneck for the fusion industry, which lacks enough tritium and has little capacity to produce the lithium-6 needed to breed more.
Natural lithium contains about 7.5% lithium-6, while most planned fusion plants are expected to use deuterium and tritium. Licube says its electrically driven process can enrich lithium to at least 99.995% lithium-6, and its chief executive estimates the fusion market could reach $50 billion by 2040. While fusion plants may still be years away, the company plans to serve semiconductor, pharmaceutical, fission reactor and spacecraft industries in the meantime.
- Licube is working to supply lithium-6 for fusion fuel production.
- The company targets 99.995% lithium-6 purity.
- It sees other markets while fusion power develops.
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Fusion power aims to release energy by joining light atoms, much as the Sun does. Many planned designs use deuterium and tritium, two forms of hydrogen; tritium is scarce, so plants may need to make more of it inside the reactor.
That process can use lithium-6, a rare form of lithium, to produce tritium. Natural lithium contains only a small share of lithium-6, and separating it is difficult, so supplies could limit how quickly fusion plants can operate.
Licube is developing a process to separate and purify lithium-6. The company says it could also supply other industries while fusion power plants are still being developed.