The steam reforming of ethanol was studied at 400 degrees C on a single catalytic bed reactor containing CO/SiO2 alone or mixed with Fe2O3/Cr2O3 and on a double bed system formed by CO/SiO2 and Fe2O3/Cr2O3 separate layers. Catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, atomic absorption spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, and temperature programmed reduction with hydrogen. After calcination at 600 degrees C the Co/SiO2 catalyst presents Co3O4 as the main phase containing cobalt. The reduction of Co3O4 to metallic Co and of Fe2O3 to Fe3O4 occurs at temperature near to 400 degrees C. All catalytic systems had shown average conversion of 90% for the steam reforming of ethanol at 400 degrees C. Hydrogen is the main constituent of the reaction effluent, which also contains CO, CO2, and CH4. The amounts of methane and CO produced with the double bed reactor were lower than that on pure CO/SiO2. Higher decrease of the CO content is observed for the single bed reactor with the CO/SiO2 and Fe2O3/Cr2O3 mixture. In this case, the decrease of CO content was about 80% compared to pure Co/SiO2. (c) 2005 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.