This study of the catalytic dehydration of n-butanol on zeolite H-ZSM-5 and amorphous aluminosilicate confirms the reaction scheme proposed earlier by the authors for isobutanol dehydration. The rate constant for n-butanol dehydration on H-ZSM-5 (determined from in situ FTIR kinetic studies by monitoring the growth of the water deformation peak at 1640 cm(-1)) is shown to be the true dehydration rate constant (1.7 x 10(-4) s(-1) at 100 degrees C). On the other hand, the rate constants determined from GC steady-state kinetic studies (temperature interval 105-185 degrees C) are effective ones, giving activation energies of 22 +/- 2 kcal/mol and 33 +/- 2 kcal/mol for complete dehydration and dehydration to butene only, respectively. By studying the dehydration reaction under different conditions (flow and static reactors, steady-state and non-steady-state regimes) and on samples with rather similar acid strengths but different porous systems (H-ZSM-5-microporous channels with diameter similar to 5.5 Angstrom, and amorphous aluminosilicate-pores of average diameter similar to 50 Angstrom), it was shown that depending on the concentration of butanol in the immediate vicinity of the active alkoxide intermediate There Exists-OC4H9, different reaction paths are utilized. High concentrations of alcohol favor ether formation, whereas low ones favour butene. This also explains the so-called "stop effect" observed in GC experiments, where an increase in the rate of butene formation occurs when the how of alcohol is stopped and replaced with a how of pure helium. Here, decreasing the concentration of alcohol in the micropores results in more of the alkoxide intermediate transforming to butene rather than to ether (which was the case at steady state).