###### Abstract  
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is an interesting source of chemicals and clean liquid fuels, and a promising alternative raw material to oil. Among the possible direct routes for methane conversion, its aromatization under non-oxidative conditions has received increasing attention, despite the low conversions obtained due to thermodynamic limitations, because of its high selectivity to benzene. Mo/H-ZSM-5, the first bifunctional zeolite-catalyst proposed for this reaction, is still considered as one of the most adequate and has been widely studied. Although the mono- or bifunctional nature of the MDA mechanism is still under debate, it is generally accepted that the Mo species activate the C-H bond in methane, producing the intermediates. These will aproamtize on the Bronsted acid sites of the zeolite, whose pore dimensions will provide the shape selectivity needed for converting methane into benzene. An additional role of the zeolite's Bronsted acid sites is to promote the dispersion of the Mo oxide precursor. Here, we show the influence of the different preparation steps--metal incorporation, calcination and activation of the Mo/ZSM-5- on the metal dispersion and, therefore, on the activity and selectivity of the final catalyst. Metal dispersion is enhanced when the samples are calcined under dynamic conditions (DC) and activated in N\({}_{2}\), and the benefits are larger when the metal has been incorporated by solid state reaction (SSR), as observed by FESEM-BSE and H\({}_{2}\)-TPR. This leads to catalysts with higher activity, increased aromatic selectivity and improved stability towards deactivation. m 20  
substantially due to the recent discovery of large reserves of shale gas, coalbed methane and methane clathrates, resulting in a high availability and low cost of natural gas [11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16]. There are two main routes for methane conversion, e.g., by means of indirect or direct processes. The indirect conversion of methane to chemicals and fuels through the intermediate formation of the more reactive synthesis gas mixture (syngas, CO + H\({}_{2}\)), a mixture of H\({}_{2}\) and CO obtained by reforming or partial oxidation, is currently the only process industrially applied [17; 18; 19]. Syngas is then converted, in a second step, to hydrocarbons by means of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis [15; 20; 21; 22], into light olefins or gasoline with methanol as an intermediate [15], or into DME in a single stage [20]. However, these indirect routes involve high energy requirements and, consequently, large CO\({}_{2}\) emissions, and this has led to an active research into alternative processes for the direct conversion of methane into hydrocarbons of interest [8], despite the challenge associated to the high chemical stability of the methane molecule. Direct methane upgrading can be approached under oxidative and non-oxidative conditions [15; 20; 22]. The oxidative routes involve the use of oxygen, which is beneficial, as it will increase the reaction rate by shifting the thermodynamic equilibrium. However, kinetically it will limit the yields to the desired primary products that are much more reactive than methane under the experimental conditions used, and which will be further converted into combustion products. This has prevented the commercial application of the oxidative methane conversion processes so far [21]. Given the limitations of the oxidative processes, the methane dehydroaromatization reaction (MDA) has gained interest in the last decades [23; 24] because of its high selectivity to hydrocarbons, mainly ethylene and benzene, which are of great interest as a raw material for the petrochemical industry, and the additional production of hydrogen. Methane dehydroaromatization takes place in the presence of bifunctional catalysts based on transition metal loaded acid zeolites. Among the different metals proposed, Mo is the best performing and has been the most studied [25].