The methanol transport through the ZSM-5/alumina extruded catalysts for the methanol-to-olefin reaction with various zeolite/alumina ratios was studied. It was found that the methanol transport was non-Fickian for all catalyst samples. The methanol transport was described in the frame of the time-fractional diffusion equation. The fractional order of the temporal derivative, characterizing the regime of the transport, was found to depend on the zeolite content. Increasing zeolite content leads to a decreasing fractional order and results in slowing down the rate of the methanol transport. The same trend was also observed for the methanol time-fractional diffusion coefficient. The obtained results for the dependence of the fractional order on catalyst composition allowed us to speculate that the methanol anomalous diffusion is governed by the adsorption of the methanol on a catalyst surface. An impact of the anomalous diffusion on the effectiveness of the chemical process is discussed. (C) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.