Improvement in activity for the Zr doped VPO catalyst appears to be a general observation in aldol condensation of methyl acetate and formaldehyde to methyl acrylate. The deactivation behavior significantly differs between VPO and VPO-Zr catalysts. In this work, the deactivation/reactivation behavior and carbon formation in aldol condensation on VPO and VPO-Zr catalysts were investigated. After partial deactivation of the conversion of methyl acetate and formaldehyde to methyl acrylate with a fixed-bed reactor, the deactivated catalysts were fractionated from the reactor. The samples were then analyzed by spectroscopic techniques, gas adsorption measurements and thermogravimetry. The VPO-Zr catalyst showed differences in deactivation/reactivation behavior from the VPO catalyst under same reaction conditions. This finding could be partially ascribed to different coke locations in the deactivated catalysts with varied porosity. The I-V (4+) /I-V (5+) ratio of V atom remarkably differed among fresh, used, and refreshed catalysts, which could be a key factor affecting catalyst deactivation. The relations of carbon formation and reaction time were fitted by empirical Voorhies equation over VPO and VPO-Zr catalysts.