Abstract: The influence of magnesium and cerium composite modification of hierarchical porous ZSM-5 on methylation of benzene with methanol was investigated. Magnesium nitrate and cerium nitrate were used as precursors. The effects of process conditions of the methylation were studied over the modified ZSM-5 catalyst. The results showed that at the conditions of 773K, 0.18 MPa, WHSV of 8 h-1, n（methanol）/n（benzene）= 0.9, the conversion rateof benzene was 51%, and the selectivity of toluene and xylene was greater than 90% over the Mg and Ce modified hierarchically ZSM-5. After 400 hours on stream, the catalysts still exhibited excellent stability, indicating its excellent industrial application value.

Key words: benzene, methanol, alkylation, ZSM-5 zeolite