INNOVATIVE LITHIUM TECHNOLOGY

Canada Growth Fund and Cleantech Group recognize B.C.’s Mangrove Lithium’s breakthrough platformfor the most cost-effective production of battery grade lithium hydroxide.

“Investing in Canadian cleantech is an investment in our economic sovereignty, and is crucial to building a competitive, low-carbon economy. The funding announced today for Mangrove Lithium will help create here at home a future where innovation thrives, jobs are created, and global competitiveness is advanced.”

– The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne,
Minister of Finance and National Revenue

Dr. Saad Dara is the founder and CEO of Mangrove Lithium – a novel lithium refining technology that uses an electrochemical process to convert extracted lithium into a battery-grade product. Saad holds a PhD (2020), MASc (2012) and BASc (2010) in Chemical and Biological Engineering from The University of British Columbia (UBC). Saad is an entrepreneur and innovator with a track record of taking research from the lab bench to a commercial scale. He has led Mangrove’s fundraising rounds, and technical and business development, while commercializing Mangrove’s technology. His areas of expertise are in fuel cells, redox flow batteries, lithium-ion batteries, electrochemical water treatment, and upstream lithium production. Saad’s vision for Mangrove is to set a new standard in lithium refining using Mangrove’s technology and developing a North American and European lithium refining capacity, allowing for domestic energy security during the global transition to renewable energy.

Interview with Dr. Saad Dara

By Suzanne Forcese

WT: Please give us an overview of Mangrove Lithium.

Dara: Mangrove Lithium is deploying the next generation of lithium processing and refining technology. The patented electrochemical technology and process aim to enable the highest purity, lowest-cost battery grade lithium, from any feedstock.

The electrochemical process reduces carbon emissions from lithium processing ensuring a more sustainable lithium supply. Mangrove works across the battery value chain for extractors, refiners, EV OEMSs and battery manufacturers worldwide to support the growth in EV demand. 

The refining platform is feedstock and product flexible, enabling the conversion of lithium from hard rocks, brines, technical grade lithium, or recycled batteries into either battery grade lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate. This ensures that Mangrove can meet the demand for lithium despite evolving feedstock availability and changing popular battery chemistries.

WT: Congratulations on 2 very impressive recognitions -- being named (for the 4th year in a row) in the CleanTech Group Top 100 for 2026; and also for a major investment through The Canada Growth Fund!

What does each recognition mean for you regarding the refining of Canadian Lithium? and regarding the recognition of the Mangrove process?

Dara: Thank you! It’s a major validation of both the process and technology, as well as a recognition that lithium refining is an essential step in the lithium supply chain that must be given its due consideration when organizations/governments/media/analysts talk about investing in the battery value chain.

Canada has so many natural resources, including lithium. If we export those resources for processing and refining, we lose out on most of their value. These awards are recognition that we have a very good way of refining those resources here in North America, more cleanly and cost effectively than ever before.

WT: Saad, you have said: "A dirty secret behind the ‘green’ narrative of EVs is that they contribute to more GHG emissions than their fossil fuel counterparts" Please elaborate.

You have also said, "There is another elephant in the room when it comes to the sustainability of lithium batteries." Tell us more.

Why is the Mangrove process superior?

Dara: Electric vehicles are essential for decarbonizing transportation, but there’s an uncomfortable truth we rarely acknowledge: the materials that make EVs possible have their own carbon emissions. Lithium refining is no exception. Today, most of the world’s battery‑grade lithium is produced with legacy chemical phase separation refining processes, which arewaste‑intensive and rely on a lot of input reagents.

If we want EVs to truly deliver on their climate promise, we must address the emissions embedded in the supply chain. That starts with cleaner and more efficient lithium refining.

The Mangrove process is superior because our technology uses electrochemistry instead of the traditional chemical intensive routes. That shift allows us to improve product purities, eliminate waste, and reduce carbon intensity.

We also offer something unique: a single platform that can refine lithium from any source—brines, hard‑rock, recycled materials, geothermal fluids. That flexibility gives producers and OEMs supply chain resilience that simply doesn’t exist today.

In short, Mangrove delivers cleaner lithium chemicals with lower operating costs and a fraction of the environmental footprint. It’s the refining process that aligns with the climate goals EVs are meant to support.

WT: Please tell us about the pilot plant facility in Delta, B.C. and what you have been able to demonstrate. And now, with the funding what the projections are?

Dara: At our Delta facility we have our pilot plant which we use to test customer samples, and we have our first commercial plant, called the Single Stack Plant (SSP). While the pilot plant has a capacity to produce around 25 tonnes of battery grade lithium a year, our SSP has a 1,000 tonnes per year capacity, which equates roughly to about 25,000 EVs a year.

The pilot plant demonstrated the technology works with real customer samples and it derisked the technology. The SSP is going to prove the technology at a commercial scale. With this recent financing from CGF, BMW I Ventures and Breakthrough Energy, we will use the proceeds to achieve FID for a second commercial facility, about 20x the capacity of our SSP. This will have a 20,000 tonnes per year capacity – which is enough for roughly 500,000 EVs a year.

WT: Please explain how the technology works. Also, where it works.

Dara: We take a lithium‑bearing feed which can come from lithium brines, hard-rock, recycled battery material, or geothermal fluids, and take the extracted lithium salt (either lithium chloride or lithium sulfate) and run it through an electrochemical cell. Inside the cell, we use voltage to transport lithium ions across a membrane, concentrating and converting them directly into high‑purity lithium chemicals. We avoid the large chemical additions, multi‑step precipitation processes, and waste streams that come with conventional refining.

Because electrochemistry is modular and precise, we can do this with dramatically lower energy use, lower operating cost, and near‑zero chemical waste.

As for where it works: that’s one of our biggest advantages. Our platform isn’t tied to one geography or one feedstock. It can be deployed at hard‑rock mines, brine operations, and recycling facilities; it can be integrated directly into new downstream battery supply chains; and it can be sited close to end users like cathode or cell manufacturers. Because the system is modular, it can scale from pilot facilities to full commercial plants and be located wherever clean, secure lithium refining is needed. In terms of the lithium supply chain flowsheet, we operate midstream between lithium extraction and cathode manufacturing.

WT: Moving forward…What's next?

Dara: Our primary focus for the next little while will be two-fold, running our Delta commercial plant and developing the second 20ktpa plant in Eastern Canada.

We just would like to continue to emphasize that the demand for lithium is growing, and there is a serious gap between the supply and demand of battery grade lithium that will continue to grow. The bottleneck in the supply chain caused by the deficit of refining capacity outside of China will on be exacerbated as the demand for lithium continues to grow. The best way we can address this is by creating domestic processing and refining capacity in Canada and North America. This is exactly the bottleneck Mangrove is addressing with our commercial plants.

Related: Government welcomes Canada Growth Fund investment in Canadian cleantech company Mangrove Lithium