As companies work toward making fusion power a practical energy source, a key question is how to secure the materials needed to keep reactors fueled. Japanese startup Licube is developing a process to extract and purify lithium-6, an isotope that can help fusion plants produce tritium on site.
Many proposed fusion systems use deuterium and tritium. Deuterium is relatively abundant, while tritium is scarce. One approach is to surround a reactor with lithium: neutrons from the fusion reaction interact with it to produce tritium, which can then be collected and reused as fuel. Lithium-6 is especially useful for this process, but accounts for only about 7.5% of naturally occurring lithium.
A membrane-based separation process
Licube has licensed technology from Hirosaki University. Its process uses an electrolyzer and a ceramic membrane. An electric current moves lithium-6 through the system at a different rate from lithium-7, enabling the isotopes to be separated. The company aims to produce material with at least 99.995% lithium-6.
Licube's technology could also serve industries that use specialized lithium, including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, fission reactors and spacecraft, while fusion power plants are still being developed. The company's CEO has projected that lithium-6 supply for fusion could become a $50 billion market by 2040 if the sector scales.
Licube is among the startups presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield in San Francisco. By addressing a potential fuel-supply bottleneck, its work could help build the material infrastructure needed for fusion energy to grow.
If the technology scales, more reliable access to lithium-6 may support the long-term development of fusion and other advanced industries.
