Induction heating applied to anisole HDO using formic acid as a hydrogen source

Magnetically induced heating catalysis using encapsulated magnetic nanoparticles as heating agents presents itself as a new efficient method for carrying out high-temperature reactions. In this work, magnetic Fe, Co, and FeCo nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon were synthesized using various methods. Rhenium oxide supported on high-surface-area graphite was used as a catalyst for the gas-phase HDO reaction of anisole, a model molecule for HDO studies of biomass-derived compounds. Characterization confirmed the formation of metallic nanoparticles, the alloying of FeCo and the successful coating with a graphitic-like carbon film around the NPs, resulting in core-shell type materials. According to the catalytic results, the activity and the selectivity were similar when using formic acid (FA) or hydrogen (H₂). Furthermore, by comparing the use of conventional and magnetic heating, it was concluded that carbon encapsulation is an effective strategy to generate a bed that heats but does not catalyze. The ReO _x catalyst stood out for its capacity to break the OCH₃ bond, forming benzene as the major product. Among the different MNPs, FeCo@CHT presented the best properties and performance.