LAS VEGAS, June 25 (Reuters) - Lilac Solutions said on

Tuesday the latest version of its lithium extraction technology

can recover more than 90% of the lithium found in many brine

formations, and that it has cut the construction cost of its

system by 50%.

The release of the long-awaited data on Lilac's process for

recovering lithium - a key component in electric vehicle

batteries that is abundant but can be hard to process - is aimed

at rebutting claims its technology is inefficient and

uneconomical as it works to woo clients across the globe.

Oakland, California-based Lilac, which was founded in 2016

and counts BMW and Breakthrough Energy Ventures as

investors, has long been reticent to release data related to its

version of a direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology.

Despite growing interest in the DLE sector from Exxon Mobil ( XOM )

, Saudi Aramco and others, no DLE technology

has worked at commercial scale without the use of traditional

evaporation ponds.

Lilac on Tuesday released a 24-page white paper on the

fourth generation of its technology, which uses ion exchange

ceramic beads to attract lithium in batch cycles - akin to a

laundry machine - after which a water-and-acid mixture is used

to wash off the metal.

The data release comes as Lilac and its rivals - including

International Battery Metals ( IBATF ), EnergyX, Sunresin

and others - are heavily marketing their DLE

technologies to potential customers across the globe.

"Our technology works and I want to show that," Raef Sully,

who became Lilac's CEO in February, said on the sidelines of the

Fastmarkets Lithium Supply and Battery Raw Materials Conference,

one of the world's largest gatherings of lithium producers.

"We're trying to close that gap between rumor and perception

and be like, 'Hey, here we are. Here's the data.'"

A short seller in July 2022 attacked Lilac partner Lake

Resources for relying on what it called "Lilac's

yet-to-be-proven technology."

The short seller alleged that Lilac's beads only work for

150 cycles, making the technology uneconomical. Lilac at the

time said the short seller's report was "inaccurate", but did

not release hard data to refute it.

On Tuesday, the company said that the latest version of its

technology works for 4,000 cycles, and can reduce water usage

with the use of recycling equipment, Sully said.

Lilac plans to use the latest version of its DLE technology

at Utah's Great Salt Lake, where a pilot plant should be online

by October, Sully said. Lilac is also eyeing lithium projects in

Arkansas, South America and Europe, he added.

The company's rivals have also been touting their own DLE

data, including Koch Engineered Solutions, which has been

testing its technology in Arkansas with partner Standard Lithium ( SLI )

that it says has an average lithium recovery rate of

95.9% at certain conditions.

"We're trying to change the narrative and show this whole

'phantom DLE' thing is no longer phantom," said Garrett Krall,

head of Koch's lithium business. "We now are ready to guarantee

our (DLE) process in any brine resource around the world."