Lilac Solutions is an Oakland, California company founded in 2016 that develops ion-exchange technology for direct lithium extraction (DLE) from brines. Its proprietary ion-exchange beads pull lithium out of high-grade, low-grade, and chemically complex brines in a closed loop, without the evaporation ponds conventional lithium production relies on, producing battery-grade lithium at roughly 87% recovery and 5-20 cubic meters of freshwater per tonne LCE. The company has completed pilot operations on Utah's Great Salt Lake and with Neptune Energy in Germany, unveiled a fifth-generation ion-exchange system, and built a US ion-exchange media manufacturing facility in Nevada. It raised a $150 million round in 2021 to scale the technology.