Purdue University Northwest's Center for Visualization and Simulation recently secured a $7 million federal grant for research that could make blast furnaces up to 10% more energy efficient, lessening their carbon footprint.
The very future of the integrated steel mills along the lakeshore in Northwest Indiana may depend on such technological advancement.
For more than a century, coke â a purified form of coal â has been burned in blazing blast furnaces in the hulking steel mills in the Calumet Region to forge the iron that's turned into the steel that goes into cars, appliances, buildings and bridges. But fossil fuels have been falling out of favor and are facing increased regulation across the globe, as political leaders look to grapple with the threat of climate change.Â