Spectro-kinetics of the methanol to hydrocarbons reaction combining online product analysis with UV–vis and FTIR spectroscopies throughout the space time evolution

[Display omitted] •Simultaneous use of in situ FTIR or UV–vis spectroscopy with gas analysis at different space time values.•Different kinetic behavior of spectroscopic cells used as flow reactors.•Active and deactivating species on the catalyst detected with FTIR or UV–vis spectroscopy.•Construction of reaction and deactivation mechanisms for the methanol to hydrocarbons reaction. The well-studied methanol to hydrocarbons reaction over a ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst has been used to develop a spectro-kinetic approach to obtain an overall reaction mechanism involving both retained species and gas-phase products. We combined two in situ spectroscopic techniques (ultraviolet–visible and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopies) with online product analysis to obtain the time- and space time-resolved evolution of the entire reaction media. A ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst was tested in two commercial spectroscopic cells at 400 °C using different space times (different inlet flow rates). Specifically, our work focusses on the effect of the space time (key parameter in any kinetic study) and how to tune other parameters such as partial pressure of methanol to resolve, from the spectroscopic and gas-phase points of view, the mechanisms of reaction and deactivation. Our approach reinforces the previous interpretation of these two combined networks in the selected reaction, thus, proving that the spectro-kinetic approach is a robust methodology to simultaneously build overall reaction and deactivation mechanisms.