The invention relates to a method for extracting
lithium from an
alumina production process and preparing battery-grade
lithium carbonate. The method comprises the following steps of: cooling a refined solution, and carrying out a reaction with an acidic compound to prepare an aluminum
hydroxide active
seed crystal; then, mixing the active
seed crystal with a
sodium aluminate solution to enrich
lithium in the
sodium aluminate solution to obtain lithium-rich aluminum
hydroxide; mixing the lithium-rich aluminum
hydroxide and an
organic acid to carry out a
microwave desorption reaction, and carrying out
solid-liquid separation after the reaction is completed, wherein the
solid is lithium-free aluminum hydroxide and the liquid is lithium-rich
desorption liquid; adding alkali liquor to the lithium-rich
desorption solution to adjust the pH value, and adding a lithium purification inhibition agent to remove aluminum ions, iron ions,
calcium ions and
magnesium ions to obtain a lithium-rich refined solution; and adding a saturated
sodium carbonate solution to the lithium-rich refined solution to precipitate lithium to obtain crude
lithium carbonate, and repeatedly the washing crude lithiumcarbonate with high-purity water to obtain the battery-grade
lithium carbonate. The method realizes high-efficiency high-quality extraction of lithium in the
alumina production process, and is in seamless connection with the existing
alumina production process. The method has a simple process and low production cost and is suitable for industrial promotion.