Preparation of Aluminum-Based Lithium Ion Adsorbent Supported on Activated Carbon and its Adsorption Lithi-um Experiment from Sodium Aluminate Solution

Fanghai Lu, Pengwei Pang, Hongyun Chai, Haijun He, Zhuangqiang Wei, and Ya Shu

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64486/m.65.3.6
Online publication date: January 5, 2026

Abstract: Lithium-rich bauxite contains abundant associated lithium oxide resources and represents a largely untapped source of lithium. During the Bayer process, ap-proximately 80 % of lithium enters the sodium aluminate solution. However, re-search on the efficient extraction of lithium from sodium aluminate solutions re-mains limited due to the lack of low-cost and high-efficiency technologies. In this study, a novel activated carbon–supported aluminum-based lithium-ion adsorbent (C-Li/Al-LDHs) was developed, and its lithium adsorption performance in sodium aluminate solution was systematically investigated. The results show that C-Li/Al-LDHs can effectively adsorb lithium from the solution. The adsorption effi-ciency increased with longer adsorption time, higher adsorbent dosage, elevated adsorption temperature, and higher lithium concentration. The key factors affecting the adsorption process were systematically examined, and a maximum lithium adsorption efficiency of 77.09 % was achieved under optimal conditions: an ad-sorbent dosage of 15 g/L, an adsorption time of 2 h, a water bath temperature of 70 °C, and a lithium concentration of 80 mg/L.

Keywords: lithium-rich bauxite; sodium aluminate solution; activated carbon–supported aluminum-based lithium-ion adsorbent; adsorption; lithium recovery

This article is published online first and will appear in Metalurgija, Vol. 65, Issue 3 (2026).