Calgary’s Litus, the innovative nanotechnology company that has developed a one-step, environmental solution that extracts lithium at exceptional rates, has just announced its pilot is now operational. This successful scale-up marks another important milestone in the lithium market, unlocking vast and untapped energy sources in North America and Europe, says the company. The Litus pilot follows the official opening of its patented nanomaterial production at its Calgary-based facility late last year.
“We are thrilled our pilot is up and running,” said Litus CEO Ghada Nafie. “Creating this pilot is a vision we have had since we founded the company and a mission we set out to accomplish. Now, we have validated this scale-up. We are already testing brines and extracting lithium.”
The aqueous reservoirs in North America and Europe contain lithium in low concentrations that, until now, were not viable to extract. Litus LiNC is so efficient and effective it selectively harvests lithium from these sources with unmatched results. With recovery rates of 99.5%, and rejection rates of 90%, and in brines as low as 30 ppm, Litus LiNC extracts lithium from brines previously deemed uneconomical.
The Litus pilot is a plug-and-play modular unit integrating with systems already in place. Infrastructure requirements are low, and minimal water and energy are needed, for an environmental approach to lithium extraction that leaves the existing ecosystem intact. With Litus LiNC, the patented nanomaterial composites extract lithium in a matter of hours, creating a product so pure it does not require additional processing and can be sent directly to battery production plants. The pilot is designed to be transported on-site and is designed to be easily scaled up to commercial level.
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