A. Fasnacht
PureLi,
United States
Summary:
Born out of research at Princeton University and accelerated through the Princeton Innovations and Entrepreneurship ecosystem, Princeton Critical Minerals is a university spin-out translating academic rigor into operational impact across the lithium value chain. What began as laboratory-driven research into phase-change materials, surface chemistry, and water–energy interactions have evolved into a revenue-generating company with active deployments in both Chile and the United States and a growing international footprint. As lithium demand accelerates and conventional extraction methods strain water resources, evaporation timelines, and environmental permitting, Princeton Critical Minerals addresses a fundamental bottleneck: how to extract lithium more efficiently from brines and oil-and-gas produced water without expanding ponds, increasing freshwater consumption, or adding chemical intensity. The company’s technology platform combines modular evaporation-enhancement systems, AI-enabled pond and process monitoring, and crystallization control tools designed to integrate with both traditional evaporation operations and emerging Direct Lithium Extraction workflows. Now approaching the close of a Series A round, with a multidisciplinary team of 18 spanning engineering, data science, field operations, and commercialization, Princeton Critical Minerals exemplifies how university-originated innovation can scale into a global industrial solution. This talk highlights the journey from Princeton lab to market, the technologies enabling disruption in lithium production, and why water-smart mineral processing represents both an economic opportunity and an environmental imperative for the energy transition.