Startup launches project to create fuel for near-infinite energy machines: 'We can do it in a facility the size of a Starbucks'

Yahoo

2 days ago

If Austin's Hexium successfully delivers a key fusion fuel isotope, it will be thanks to a storyline that includes lithium, lasers, and technology developed in the 1980s. And it will all amazingly happen inside a building the size of a Starbucks, one of the men behind the effort told TechCrunch.
"We don't have to build a facility the size of a Costco or a football stadium," co-founder Jacob Peterson said in the story. "We can do it in a facility the size of a Starbucks, and we achieve good economics at very small scale, and then we just parallelize our process."
Peterson and co-founder Charlie Jarrott have already been making headlines for California-based Focused Energy, which was founded to develop laser-based fusion power at a $65 million facility.
Hexium is intended to gather a key part of fusion fuel from lithium, a complicated and necessary hurdle for labs from around the world that are trying to harness the power of the sun. The process often involves huge magnetic machines designed to contain swirling plasma and extreme heat.
"I realized no one is working on this supply chain stuff," Jarrott told TechCrunch.
While Focused and Hexium use lasers, the process is different at each company. For the latest effort, the laser tech dusts off a U.S. Department of Energy approach called atomic vapor laser isotope separation to corral lithium isotopes. Lithium-6 is the rare one needed for fusion fuel.
The government had planned to use lasers to complete the same task for uranium isotopes for common fission power plants. But after the Soviet Union fell, nuclear fuel was more widely available from old Russian weapons-grade uranium, according to the TechCrunch story.
Unlike fission, fusion does not produce long-lasting nuclear waste or carry a meltdown risk, answering safety concerns from critics. Fusion combines particles, creating new atoms to make energy; fission splits them. The challenge for fusion is sustainably maintaining reactions that involve temperatures hotter than the sun, all per government reports.
Hexium announced $9.5 million in seed funding in the spring. The experts are tweaking the government laser process to accommodate lithium. They can hone low-energy beams to separate lithium-6 from lithium-7 in vapor metal clouds. The lasers will condense lithium-6 into a liquid, where it will run into a trough for collection. The isotope will be sold to fusion labs to make fuel. Lithium-7 can be used in traditional nuclear operations, all according to TechCrunch.
Hexium's website also noted medical and industrial uses for the collected isotope. The team plans to have a pilot plant running this year making up to hundreds of pounds of lithium-6.
Should we be harnessing the ocean to power our homes?
Absolutely
Leave it be
It depends
I'm not sure
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
It's an exciting update for nuclear energy, which produces abundant power with no heat-trapping air pollution. NASA links rising temperatures to increased severe weather risks, including floods.
However, fusion isn't yet ready for sustainable production. And nuclear power is increasingly costly and slow to develop, Colorado energy think-tank co-founder and physicist Amory Lovins told The Cool Down.
He said that solar and wind projects are the fastest, cheapest form of energy to build in response to growing grid demand. It's an energy source that can be leveraged at home, as well.
Tax credits of up to 30% expire at the end of the year, thanks to President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, but EnergySage can help you lock in the rebates before they expire. The incentives and the right installer can save you thousands of dollars. What's more, the tech can reduce or eliminate your power bill. North Carolina State University's Clean Energy Technology Center has a database of perks offered at the state level, as well.
At Hexium, the founders see potential in fusion immediately, specifically providing a key resource to make the fuel needed for experiments.
"There isn't a single company that is going to make the fuel for those companies," Jarrott told TechCrunch.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.