Litus

Four years ago, early on a weekday morning, ardently conducting research in a University of Calgary laboratory, Dr. Ghada Nafie’s team made a stunning breakthrough — something she believes has the potential to be a game-changer for the rest of the world. The researchers had been eager to find out if the nanomaterials they developed could streamline the process of extracting lithium from brine with a more effective, efficient, and environmentally sound method. In a matter of just six minutes, they got their answer. “That was our biggest moment,” says Nafie, BSc’00, MSc’17, PhD’20. “We immediately knew that we had something valuable, that we had a path forward, that we were going to start the company, that we were — and are — going to make a big difference for consumers, industry, and the environment.”

Founding Calgary-based Litus with Dr. Pedro Pereira-Almao and Dr. Gerardo Vitale in 2019, she knows the company’s potential is vast. The demand for lithium, the key component in the batteries of electric vehicles, is set to increase as much as 500 per cent by 2030, according to Nafie, a pace that current methods of extraction cannot meet. “A lot more lithium is needed,” she says. “It’s one of the biggest industrial transitions we’re going to see in our lifetimes, going from internal-combustion vehicles to electric vehicles.” 

Scaling its technology and aiming for a full commercial facility by 2025, Litus is proceeding efficiently, proving that it is able to recover lithium — with minimal impact on the environment — from low-concentration sources. For the steady progress, Nafie appreciates the investment of the UCeed Energy Fund. “The fund goes beyond the financial,” she says. “UCeed brings the support, the people, and the connections — it’s an ongoing relationship with a fabulous team that can assist and accelerate in bringing companies from one stage to the next.”

Visit Litus’s website for more information.

Litus has received investment from UCeed, a venture philanthropy fund accelerating UCalgary and community-based startup companies to advance problem-solving research, create jobs and fuel the economy. A key program in the UCalgary innovation ecosystem, UCeed bridges the gap between innovation, demonstration and commercialization, and is managed by UCalgary’s knowledge-transfer and business incubator, Innovate Calgary.

UCeed Energy Fund is made possible through the philanthropic support of Calgary entrepreneur and community leader Don Archibald, with additional philanthropic support from the Tamaratt Fund at the Calgary Foundation, and funding from UCalgary’s Global Research Initiative.