iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Yes—but so far, the reported pharmaceutical chemistry is a laboratory demonstration, not a commercial way to manufacture medicines. A 2023 report describes steel converter gas being used in catalytic reactions to make compounds including paracetamol, vorinostat and butenafine. This is distinct from industrial projects that turn steelworks gases into ethanol or methanol.
How steel converter gas was used in the reported reactions
Steel converter gas is a mixture whose main components include carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen. In the work reported by Chemistry World, researchers used the gas in two types of catalytic reaction. The amidation route coupled nitroarenes with carboxylic acids, while the reductive-amination route produced a different set of targets. The report says the amidation proceeded without additives or coupling agents.
Amidation with a ruthenium catalyst
The reported amidation used a ruthenium-based catalyst and produced compounds including paracetamol and vorinostat, a medicine used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The report says sulfur-based impurities commonly found in converter gas did not significantly inhibit the reactions. These are details from the secondary report; they should not be read as a complete account of the experimental results.
Outdated Drivers Are Slowing You Down
One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchPC Slower Than It Used to Be?
A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Reductive amination with a rhodium catalyst
A separate route used a rhodium catalyst for reductive amination and reportedly produced the antifungal agent butenafine in high yield. The two routes therefore used different catalysts and reaction types; the report does not establish that they share the same conditions or scope.
#1 Best Overall
What is known—and what remains unestablished
Chemistry World identifies the primary study as S. A. Runikhina et al., Chemical Science 2023, volume 14, page 4346, DOI 10.1039/d3sc00257h. Without the experimental paper’s data, exact yields, reaction conditions, catalyst loading, substrate scope and scale cannot be stated reliably. The reported examples establish selected laboratory reactions, not a general method proven for manufacturing medicines at industrial scale.
The report describes a proposed explanation: converter gas may react with the metal catalysts to form active metal-carbonyl species involved in carbon–nitrogen bond formation, and carbon dioxide in the gas may accelerate the reaction. That is a suggested mechanism, not a confirmed pathway.
Rank #2
- Used Book in Good Condition
The work also does not establish commercial production, regulatory approval of any drug, process economics, lifecycle emissions benefits or a ready-to-install process at a steelworks. Making a known pharmaceutical compound in a reaction is not the same as producing an approved medicine to manufacturing standards.
How this differs from other steel-gas conversion projects
Several approaches use gases from steel production, but they do different things with the gas and produce different outputs. The pharmaceutical study concerns catalytic organic reactions; Steelanol uses microbes to make ethanol; Carbon2Chem conditions steel gases for chemical synthesis, especially methanol.
| Route | What happens to the gas | Output and development scale described by the source |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmaceutical synthesis study | Converter gas is used in selected catalytic transformations. | Amide-based pharmaceutical and fine-chemical molecules; laboratory study reported in 2023. Exact scale is not verified in the secondary report. |
| Steelanol | At ArcelorMittal Ghent, blast-furnace gas is dedusted and cooled, compressed, separated into CO-rich and CO₂-rich streams, and the CO-rich stream is fermented by Clostridium autoethanogenum; the ethanol is then distilled. | Ethanol. The European Commission Joint Research Centre page, accessed in 2026, describes a commercial plant commissioned in September 2023, with designed capacity of about 64,000 tonnes per year, final ethanol concentration of 98.7%, and technology readiness level 9. |
| Carbon2Chem | Cleaned and, where needed, conditioned blast-furnace and basic-oxygen-furnace gases provide carbon for synthesis; hydrogen may come from coke-oven gas or renewable electrolysis. | Methanol and other chemicals or fuels in a pilot-scale project. The European Commission Joint Research Centre lists maturity by process step: gas cleaning at TRL 7/8, gas conditioning around TRL 8, ammonia synthesis at TRL 9, and methanol synthesis at TRL 7–9 depending on feed gas. |
Why ethanol’s emissions figures do not prove a pharmaceutical benefit
The European Commission Joint Research Centre reports that Steelanol ethanol was estimated to have 50–87% lower lifecycle carbon emissions than conventional gasoline. That is a reported comparison for fuel ethanol, not a lifecycle assessment of the pharmaceutical reactions. Emissions depend on the product, energy inputs and accounting boundary, so the figure cannot be transferred to medicine production.
The Commission page also describes regulatory and emissions-accounting questions concerning Steelanol and Carbon2Chem. Those policy discussions are tied to the page’s publication context; they should not be treated as a statement of current EU rules without checking the applicable regulations.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the result means for readers
The practical significance is that an industrial gas mixture was reported to support selected catalytic transformations that made pharmaceutical and fine-chemical molecules in the lab. It is a different kind of reuse from feeding steel gases to microbes for ethanol or conditioning them for methanol synthesis. The reported chemistry is promising as a demonstration, but the cited reporting does not show that steelworks waste gas is ready to replace established pharmaceutical manufacturing inputs at commercial scale.
Recommended Free Tools
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
