Researchers reported using steel converter gas in laboratory-scale reactions to make pharmaceutical and fine-chemical molecules, including paracetamol, vorinostat and butenafine. The work, reported in 2023, is a chemistry demonstration—not evidence that medicines are being commercially manufactured from steelworks gas.
How steel converter gas was used in the reactions
Steel converter gas is a variable industrial mixture described in the 2023 Chemistry World report as consisting principally of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen. In the reported experiments, it served as part of the reaction environment for catalytic transformations that form carbon–nitrogen bonds.
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The report identifies the underlying study as S. A. Runikhina et al., Chemical Science 2023, 14, 4346, DOI 10.1039/d3sc00257h. The reaction details below reflect Chemistry World’s account; it does not provide enough verified experimental data to establish exact yields, catalyst loadings, conditions or reaction scale.
Amidation: paracetamol and vorinostat
For direct amidation, the group used a ruthenium-based catalyst to couple nitroarenes with carboxylic acids under converter gas. The Chemistry World report says the reactions proceeded without additives or coupling agents and identifies paracetamol and vorinostat among the target molecules. Vorinostat is a medicine used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
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Reductive amination: butenafine
A separate route used a rhodium catalyst for reductive amination and produced butenafine, an antifungal agent. Chemistry World describes the reported yield as high but gives no numerical value in its account, so a specific percentage cannot be stated from that source.
The report also says sulfur-based impurities commonly found in converter gas did not significantly inhibit the reactions. That finding concerns the reported experiments; it does not establish that untreated gas from any steelworks can be used without analysis or conditioning.
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What the researchers proposed—and what remains unproven
The proposed explanation is that converter gas reacts with the metal catalysts to form active metal-carbonyl species, which then participate in carbon–nitrogen bond formation. The report also says carbon dioxide in the gas may accelerate the reaction. These are proposed mechanistic ideas, not a confirmed account of the reaction pathway.
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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →The study is evidence that steel converter gas can be used in selected catalytic synthesis reactions at laboratory scale. It does not establish a commercial pharmaceutical process, approved medicines made by this route, a steelworks installation ready for deployment, or a lifecycle emissions benefit. The available Chemistry World report does not state verified yields, operating conditions or scale-up results; those details require consultation of the primary paper.
How this differs from steel-gas ethanol and methanol projects
Other projects also use steelmaking gases, but they do different chemistry at different development scales. The pharmaceutical study uses gas in catalytic reactions; Steelanol uses microbes to ferment treated off-gas into ethanol; Carbon2Chem conditions steel gases for chemical synthesis, especially methanol. Commercial progress in one route does not demonstrate readiness in another.
| Route | What happens to the gas | Output described | Scale or maturity reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pharmaceutical synthesis study | Converter gas provides a reactive atmosphere or reagent environment for selected catalytic transformations. | Amide-based pharmaceutical and fine-chemical molecules. | Laboratory study reported in 2023; exact scale is not stated in the Chemistry World account. |
| Steelanol | Treated blast-furnace gas is separated and a CO-rich stream is fermented by Clostridium autoethanogenum. | Ethanol, distilled to a reported final concentration of 98.7%. | The European Commission Joint Research Centre page, accessed in 2026, reports designed capacity of about 64,000 tonnes per year, commissioning in September 2023 and TRL 9. |
| Carbon2Chem | Cleaned and, when 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. | The European Commission Joint Research Centre describes a pilot project, with reported process-step maturity ranging from TRL 7 to 9 depending on operation and feed gas. |
Steelanol is a biological fuel route
The Commission describes Steelanol at ArcelorMittal Ghent as a sequence of dedusting and cooling, compression, pressure-swing adsorption to separate CO-rich and CO₂-rich streams, fermentation of the CO-rich stream, and ethanol distillation. Its page reports that the ethanol was estimated to have 50–87% lower lifecycle carbon emissions than conventional gasoline. That estimate concerns fuel ethanol and must not be transferred to the pharmaceutical reactions; lifecycle results depend on the product and accounting boundary. The same page contains time-sensitive EU regulatory and emissions-accounting discussion, so it should not be treated as a statement of current regulatory status.
Carbon2Chem is a conditioned-gas synthesis route
The Commission describes Carbon2Chem as a pilot-scale approach using cleaned blast-furnace and basic-oxygen-furnace gases as carbon sources, especially for methanol. Depending on the gas composition and process design, gas cleaning and CO₂ removal or conditioning may be needed. The Commission’s page discusses policy and emissions-allocation questions for products made using steel gases; those interpretations may change as rules change.
What this could mean for pharmaceutical manufacturing
The result is a proof of chemical possibility, not a ready-made manufacturing recipe. Moving from a laboratory reaction to pharmaceutical production would require evidence about reproducibility, product purity, reaction performance at scale, gas composition, process control and economics. The Chemistry World report does not establish those matters, nor does it show that any medicine made in the study has regulatory approval by virtue of the route.
It is also important not to infer an environmental benefit from the word “waste.” Using an industrial gas stream may change how that stream is managed, but the pharmaceutical study does not provide a lifecycle assessment. Results reported for fuel ethanol, or maturity reported for methanol synthesis, do not quantify the emissions or commercial readiness of pharmaceutical synthesis.
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