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    Stardust Power DOE lithium extraction programme: process and feedstock notes for engineers

    June 3, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Stardust Power DOE lithium extraction programme: process and feedstock notes for engineers

    First reported on MINING.com

    30 Second Briefing

    Stardust Power Inc. has been selected as the end-use industrial partner in a US Department of Energy-funded programme led by Ohio University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment and CONSOL Innovations to develop electrochemical technology for direct lithium extraction from domestic waste streams, including oil and gas wastewater and legacy coal mine drainage. Under FOA DE-FOA-0003105, the team will test coal- and waste coal-based electrodes, with Stardust Power evaluating lithium product against battery-grade specifications and assessing refinery integration. The move supports diversified US lithium feedstocks and strengthens domestic critical minerals processing capacity.

    Technical Brief

    • FOA DE-FOA-0003105 frames the work under “Critical Material Innovation, Efficiency and Alternatives”, guiding technical scope.
    • Electrochemical direct lithium extraction will trial coal- and waste coal-based electrodes as the active separation media.
    • Wastewater feedstocks explicitly include oil and gas produced water and drainage from legacy coal mining sites.

    Our Take

    Stardust Power already features in our coverage as a prospective offtaker of up to 15,000 t/y of lithium carbonate equivalent from a California brine project, so this DOE-backed work on direct lithium extraction from waste streams could eventually diversify its feedstock beyond conventional brines for the planned Muskogee refinery.

    Oklahoma is emerging in our database as a processing-heavy critical minerals hub rather than a mining jurisdiction, and Stardust Power’s research link with Ohio University and CONSOL Innovations aligns with that pattern of siting midstream lithium and critical minerals capacity in the state.

    Several recent coal-linked critical minerals stories in our database, including Ramaco Resources’ rare earths from coal and carbonaceous ore, suggest that using coal and waste coal in Stardust Power’s electrode research fits a broader US push to repurpose legacy coal assets into unconventional critical mineral sources.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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