The price of light aromatics, which are important chemical
intermediates,
is greatly affected by fluctuations in the oil market, and there is
a gap in the supply. It is urgent to expand the source of aromatics
to match the market demand. Being highly accessible, oxygen-free aromatization
of light alkanes (C1–C4), with high product
selectivity and high cost-effectiveness, has attracted widespread
interest from both academia and industry. However, the rapid deactivation
of catalysts due to carbon deposition has seriously hindered the industrialization
process. This Review presents the bifaciality of coke on catalysts
and proposes a coke formation mechanism related to the dynamic migration
of intermediates according to the type of catalyst active site. An
emphasis is placed on creating a reaction microenvironment that resists
carbon deposition by improving the mass-transfer efficiency, controlling
the interaction between intermediates and active sites, adjusting
silanol defects, and looking forward to future directions for development.