Ville-Valtteri Visuri

Ville-Valtteri Visuri is a tenure track Associate Professor (Sustainable Primary Metallurgy of Steelmaking) and Deputy Head of the Process Metallurgy Research Unit at the University of Oulu. He works also as an Academy Research Fellow funded by the Research Council of Finland.

Visuri's research focuses on chemical kinetics and transport phenomena in the primary metallurgy of steelmaking. His current main research interests are related to the following unit processes:

• hot metal desulfurisation (HMD),
• electric arc furnace (EAF),
• hydrogen plasma smelting reduction (HPSR),
• basic oxygen furnace (BOF),
• argon-oxygen decarburisation (AOD), and
• reheating and annealing furnaces.

The research methods employed cover both computational methods (e.g., dynamic mathematical modelling and computational thermodynamics) and experimental methods (e.g., crucible experiments and thermogravimetry). The research is tightly connected with the process development of the steel industry and thereby contributes to the larger societal aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. He is currently a project manager or principal investigator in the following projects:

• Carbon-free steelmaking by hydrogen use (H2IRON)
  Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation
• Digital twins for green hydrogen transition in steel industry (TWINGHY)
  European Union
• K1-MET Competence Center of Sustainable Digitalized Metallurgy for a Climate Neutral and Resource Efficient Planet (K1-MET SusMet4Planet)
  Austrian Research Promotion Agency
• Mathematical Modelling of Hydrogen Plasma Smelting Reduction
  Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation
• Towards Carbon Neutral Metals (TOCANEM)
  Business Finland
• Towards CO2-lean electric arc furnace steelmaking through fundamental and data-driven mathematical modeling (LEAF)
  Research Council of Finland

Alongside his main occupation, Visuri serves as the Chairman of the Board in the Division of Metallurgical Engineers at the Finnish Association Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, as the Vice-Chairman of the Research Community for Steel Production, Fabrication and Applications at the University of Oulu, as a Deputy Member of the Board of the Chapter of the University of Oulu at the Finnish Union of University Professors, and as the Vice-Chairman of the Board in the Oulu University Society.

Previously, Visuri worked as an R&D Manager at Outokumpu Stainless Oy, as a Senior Research Fellow, Postdoctoral Researcher, Doctoral Researcher, and Research Assistant at the University of Oulu, and twice as a Visiting Researcher at the RWTH Aachen University.

He holds the Title of Docent in Process Metallurgy (Modelling of Reaction Kinetics in Pyrometallurgy), a doctorate in Process Engineering (passed with distinction), as well as master's (passed with distinction) and bachelor's degrees in Industrial Engineering and Management; all from the University of Oulu. His postgraduate studies were funded by a position at the Graduate School in Chemical Engineering, a national-level graduate school. During his undergraduate studies, he spent an exchange semester at the Technical University of Munich. Most recently, Visuri completed the Science Leadership program (Class of '21) and is pursuing basic studies in University Pedagogy. His working languages are Finnish, English and German, for which he holds the C2-level Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom from Goethe Institut.