Licube Aims to Energize the Fusion Power Sector: Discover More at TechCrunch Disrupt

If fusion energy becomes a reality, a significant increase in lithium demand is anticipated.

This is the premise behind Licube, a startup that has obtained a license for technology developed by Hirosaki University in Japan to extract lithium-6, the variant necessary for fusion reactors to generate fuel, from naturally sourced lithium.

The importance lies in the fuel requirements. Successful commercialization of fusion power hinges on various factors, with fuel supply being paramount. Most proposed facilities plan to rely on a combination of deuterium and tritium. While deuterium is widely available, tritium is exceedingly scarce in nature. It is widely acknowledged within the fusion sector that current reserves of tritium are insufficient for all the proposed plants.

A suggested solution is to produce tritium on-site at the power plants. A fusion reaction releases a stream of high-speed particles known as neutrons. Startups are planning to surround the reactor with a layer of lithium so that when a neutron collides with a lithium atom, it splits into helium and tritium. This generated tritium can then be extracted, processed, and returned to the reactor as fuel.

However, not all lithium types serve this purpose equally. Lithium comes in two slightly different variations—lithium-6 and lithium-7—distinguished by their atomic weights. Lithium-6 is significantly more effective at capturing neutrons and generating tritium, but it constitutes only about 7.5% of natural lithium, with the remaining being the heavier lithium-7. The challenge lies in the difficulty of separating them, and current capacity for such separation is limited. Therefore, the supply of lithium-6 is inadequate.

Licube aims to address this challenge. “If fusion becomes operational, it could create a $50 billion market by 2040,” stated Yohei Kiguchi, co-founder and CEO of Licube.

Licube is among 20 startups participating in a presentation event at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, competing in the Startup Battlefield pitch competition.

Although fusion holds promise for a significant share of the multi-trillion-dollar energy sector, startups in this area are still a few years away from achieving their first power plants.

“Fusion represents the largest future market, but we recognize that its realization may be delayed,” Kiguchi acknowledged.

Until fusion becomes a reality, Licube plans to utilize its technology for lithium purification in industries such as semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, fission reactors, and space exploration.

At the core of Licube’s technology is an electrolyzer, a device that utilizes electrical current to facilitate chemical reactions. In this setup, lithium is dissolved in a liquid on one side of a ceramic membrane. As electrical current traverses the membrane, lithium-6 is drawn over more quickly. Licube can then extract this solution and isolate the lithium-6.

The aim is to achieve lithium enrichment to at least 99.995% lithium-6. Fusion companies can subsequently integrate this highly enriched lithium into their fuel generation systems.

Kiguchi’s motivation for founding Licube stemmed from a visit to ITER, the experimental fusion reactor under construction in southern France. After retiring from his previous venture, an energy-switching network in Japan, he resided only a couple of hours away in Monaco.

“I realized I was too young to retire,” he shared. “I am passionate about energy and wanted to contribute to something more substantial.”