Decarbonizing
Resource Extraction.
Electrification requires a staggering volume of critical minerals, but current extraction methods destroy ecosystems. Chondrule uses generative biomolecular AI to design biological filters and separation enzymes that secure critical EV and turbine mineral supply chains cleanly.
Securing green tech metals without toxic chemicals.
Industrial metallurgic separation has traditionally relied on crude physical attributes like density and electrical charge, or aggressive organic solvents and acids to force metals apart. This approach is highly energy-intensive and produces billions of gallons of toxic liquid tailings.
In contrast, biology possesses a remarkable capacity for sub-Angstrom precision. Biomolecules like Lanmodulin can bind to heavy metals using highly specific coordination geometries, selecting Nd over Dy based on atomic radii changes as small as 0.02 Å.
Chondrule designs synthetic proteins inspired by these natural chelating pathways. We scaffold these pockets into robust structural polymers that can be used directly in heap leaching or e-waste recycling, extracting cobalt, lithium, and rare earths cleanly at scale.
Deep Dive Applications
Explore five distinct use cases where de novo designed proteins provide clean, biological alternatives to high-emission metallurgical processes.
Toxic Mining Clean-Up
THE BOTTLENECK
Mining tailings ponds contain millions of gallons of acidic, toxic runoff rich in heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and arsenic. Traditional filtration chemical methods are non-selective, expensive, and produce secondary toxic sludge.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Designing custom peptide matrices displaying ultra-high affinity (KD ≈ picomolar) and precise spatial distribution for toxic heavy metals. Scaffolded on stable bio-membranes, these peptides selectively chelate and immobilize toxic metals directly from drainage water, leaving natural calcium/magnesium unharmed.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Green Rare Earth Extraction
THE BOTTLENECK
Neodymium (Nd) and Dysprosium (Dy) are essential for EV motors and wind turbines, but separating them is incredibly difficult because their atomic sizes and chemical properties are almost identical. Current separating methods require hundreds of stages of toxic liquid solvent extraction.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Scaffolding de novo variants of the lanthanide-binding protein Lanmodulin (LanM). By adjusting the oxygen-coordination geometry in the binding loops down to tenths of an Angstrom, we create biological chelators with 1000x greater selectivity for Neodymium over Dysprosium, enabling single-pass, green chromatographic separation.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Clean Copper & Nickel Extraction
THE BOTTLENECK
Extracting copper and nickel from low-grade sulfide ores requires highly acidic, corrosive heap-leaching systems. Natural microbes can assist, but they are highly sensitive to metal toxicity and slow, resulting in low yield.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Designing hyper-acidostable structural peptides (functioning stably down to pH 1.0) modeled after acidophilic extremophiles. These de novo engineered peptides bind directly to sulfide crystal lattices, accelerating physical weathering and copper/nickel release without chemical smelting.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Water-Efficient Lithium Recovery
THE BOTTLENECK
Traditional lithium extraction from salt flat brines relies on giant solar evaporation ponds that take up to 18 months, consume billions of gallons of local water, and are highly inefficient at separating lithium from massive sodium and magnesium impurities.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Architecting de novo transmembrane peptide channels and porous polymeric networks with atomic-scale channel diameters. The designed coordination sites selectively bind and transport lithium ions (Li+) while completely rejecting chemically similar sodium (Na+) and magnesium (Mg2+) ions.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
Battery Recycling from E-Waste
THE BOTTLENECK
Recycling cobalt from spent lithium-ion batteries and electronic waste requires crushing the batteries and leaching them with harsh, concentrated mineral acids, resulting in complex chemical mixtures that are highly energy-intensive to separate.
THE DE NOVO SOLUTION
Engineering robust, low-pH-stable yeast cell-surface display peptides containing highly selective cobalt-binding pockets. These de novo designed peptides isolate cobalt directly from highly complex acidic waste streams, turning toxic e-waste back into raw battery precursor materials.
COMPUTATIONAL STACK
The future of discovery is autonomous.
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