On-going research activities at the University of Oulu for fossil-free steelmaking
 

Pauna, H., Visuri, V.-V., Sulasalmi,P. & Fabritius, T.

Abstract

The steel industry produces 7% of the total CO2 emissions in Finland. To support Finland’s target of carbon-neutrality by 2035, the Finnish steel industry and research institutes have started joint actions (TOCANEM and FFS projects) to take a significant step towards fossil-free steel production. The core of the transition is the utilization of electricity, hydrogen, and bio-based carbon to replace the use of fossil-based carbon. The activities at the University of Oulu focus on electric melting and reduction processes, hydrogen reduction of iron ore, and the use of biochar in multiple steelmaking applications.

Bio

Professor Timo Fabritius is the Head of the Process Metallurgy Research Unit at the University of Oulu. He received the degree of Doctor of Science (Technology) from the University of Oulu in 2004 and started as a full professor in the current affiliation in 2010. His main research topics are iron and steelmaking processes and he is an expert on heat and mass transfer phenomena, thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium, and reaction kinetics in high-temperature processes. He has published about 150 journal publications and more than 110 conference papers and has supervised about 110 master's and 19 doctoral theses.