Ahmed Abdelrahim: Reducing CO₂ Emissions in Steelmaking through Hydrogen Reduction and Waste Recycling

Reducing CO₂ Emissions in Steelmaking through Hydrogen Reduction and Waste Recycling

By Ahmed Abdelrahim, D.Sc.

Overview

My journey in Finland began in 2016 as an international master’s degree student. Today, I am a proud Finnish citizen and a post-doctoral researcher at the Process Metallurgy Research Unit at the University of Oulu.

The support from the Walter Ahlström Foundation has been instrumental at every stage. The Foundation’s funding enabled me to focus on one of today’s biggest industrial challenges: creating sustainable, carbon-neutral steel.

Research & Innovation

My work has turned industrial waste into a valuable resource. I successfully developed novel cold-bonded briquettes that replace carbon-intensive cement with a new, sustainable binder made from ladle slag, another steel-plant by-product.

This “waste-to-value” innovation recycles materials, reduces landfill, and cuts CO₂ emissions.

Concurrently, my research explored the impact of hydrogen in the blast furnace, a critical step toward decarbonizing the ironmaking process.

Recognition & Impact

This work has gained significant international recognition, with a 2024 paper named “Editors’ Choice” in Steel Research International and a keynote invitation to the 10th International Congress on the Science and Technology of Ironmaking (ICSTI2025), where I was proud to acknowledge the Foundation’s contribution.

The Foundation’s generous and sustained support has been a critical factor in my work, directly accelerating experimental research and supporting my journey from student to Finnish innovator.

Publication & Visual

The graphical abstract from my 2022 paper on developing sustainable briquettes illustrates the “waste-to-product” pipeline, from industrial side streams to the final high-performance material.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40831-022-00511-1Abdelrahim, A., Nguyen, H., Omran, M., Kinnunen, P., Iljana, M., Illikainen, M., Fabritius, T., 2022. Development of Cold-Bonded Briquettes Using By-Product-Based Ettringite Binder from Ladle Slag. Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy, 8, 468–487. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-022-00511-1