The U.S. ironmaking sector plays a key role in global greenhouse gas emissions, mainly due to long-standing practices such as blast furnaces (BFs) and direct reduction (DR). In this work, we develop a new mathematical approach to estimate future CO₂ emissions from the U.S. ironmaking industry through 2050. Our approach uses historical data from 2005 to 2021 and incorporates economic and energy use indicators to explore how emissions might change over time. According to our results, unless significant technological improvements and stronger energy policies are implemented, the industry is likely to continue producing large amounts of CO₂. These findings highlight the pressing need to adopt cleaner alternatives—such as hydrogen-based direct reduction—to help meet international climate goals. Supporting the transition to low-emission technologies contributes to broader efforts in sustainable industrial development and long-term climate resilience.

Gelatin crosslinking using conventional methods is usually associated with some toxic side effects. In this research, therefore, the vacuum heating method at 10 Pascal and 140C under different times of 8, 16, and 32h was used to cross-link strontium-loaded gelatin microparticles with varying degrees obtained by the oil/water mixing method on titanium scaffolds by the dip-coating method to avoid toxicity and also to control the strontium release rate to the surrounding tissue. The possible phases formed on the surface of the porous titanium scaffolds, the gelatin microparticle distribution, gelatin strontium loading, and strontium release were characterized using thin film X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) machines, respectively. The results indicated that at 600C, the rutile phase was formed on the surface of the heat-treated titanium scaffolds. Furthermore, strontium was successfully loaded in the spherical gelatin microparticles, and the strontium-loaded gelatin microparticles were distributed uniformly on the surface of the titanium scaffolds, while the rate of the in vitro strontium release decreased by increasing the time of the gelatin microparticle vacuum-heat crosslinking, whereas at the burst release step, the in vitro strontium release rates were around 5, 4.4, and 2.5ppm/h, for the 8, 16, and 32h vacuum-heat cross-linked gelatin microparticles, respectively.