Rusen, AydinCatal, Mehmet YasarTopcu, Mehmet AliAlkan, Mahmut SamiKarakaya, Muazzez Celik2025-12-242025-12-2420260892-6875https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2025.109946https://hdl.handle.net/123456789/12741Red mud (RM) is a polymetallic source that occurs in aluminum production. The objective of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of an integrated route for the efficient use of RM for the multistep extraction of iron and critical elements. Reduction experiments were conducted at 900-1400 degrees C in the presence of coal and Na2CO3 for iron transformation. Solvometallurgical leaching experiments were conducted using choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents to extract critical elements from RM, reduced RM, and smelted RM. The XRD analysis revealed that Fe2O3 in RM consistently transformed to the Fe3O4 phase across all temperatures, and metallization was initiated at 900 degrees C. After conducting an experiment for 3 h at 1400 degrees C, an iron extraction of 93.6 % was realized. The solvometallurgical experiments demonstrated an increasing trend in metal leaching efficiencies from RM, with the order being ChCl/ethylene glycol < ChCl/urea < ChCl/oxalic acid. The reduction experiments demonstrated a negligible impact on critical elements extraction using ChCl/ethylene glycol and ChCl/urea, while the ChCl/oxalic acid mixture led to a notable enhancement in the extraction efficiency of elements, excluding vanadium. The highest extraction efficiency was detected for titanium as 93.8 % from SRM after leaching with ChCl/oxalic acid.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessRed MudIron ExtractionCritical ElementsMetal ExtractionSolvometallurgyArticle10.1016/j.mineng.2025.1099462-s2.0-105021811850